The randomly selected charts of 50 discharged psychiatric inpatients
were reviewed for documentation of medical illness and DSM-III axis III
diagnoses. Twenty-eight percent of the patients had had medical symptoms,
56% had had medical findings, 36% had had laboratory findings, and 60% had
been given axis III diagnoses. In at least seven cases, the medical
findings were poorly reflected in the final axis III diagnosis. In no case
did the record indicate that medical factors were viewed as the cause of a
patient's immediate psychiatric syndrome.
Abstract Teaser