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The twelve-month outcome of patients with neurotic illness in general practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

A. H. Mann ,
R. Jenkins  and
E. Belsey
A. H. Mann*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
R. Jenkins
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
E. Belsey
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr A. H. Mann, Academic Department of Psychiatry, Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG.
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Synopsis

One hundred patients, selected to be representative of those attending general practitioners with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders were followed up for one year. standard assessments of mental state, personality, social stresses and supports were carried out for each patient at the outset and after a year.

The outcome for this cohort determined both by the level of psychiatric morbidity at interview after one year and by the pattern of the psychiatric morbidity during the year has been analysed with reference to the assessment measures. Discriminant function analysis indicates that the initial estimate of the severity of the psychiatric morbidity and a rating of the quality of the social life at the time of follow-up are the only factors that significantly predict the psychiatric state after one year. Social measures also predict a pattern of illness charactorized by a rapid recovery after the initial assessemtn. Patients who reported continuous psychiatric morbidity during the year were, older, physically ill and very likely to have recevied psychotropic drugs. Receipt of this medication during the year was associated with initial assessments of abnormality of personality, older age, and a diagnosis of depression.

The findings of this study are seen to support a triaxial assessment and classification of non-psychotic psychiatirc disorders, with symptoms, personality and social state being rated independently.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , August 1981 , pp. 535 - 550
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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