PSYCHOLOGISTS SENSITIVITY TO MEDICAL FACTORS EXAMINED DURING STANDARDPSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS - A PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION

Medical disorders among psychiatric patients have frequently been over looked by all mental health disciplines. These medical conditions have , at times, been later identified as influencing some of the presentin g psychological symptoms. Although the relationship between medical fa ctors and psychological symptoms has been recognized and discussed in the literature for several decades, improvement has not been well docu mented regarding the frequency of recognizing medical factors with psy chiatric patients. Little research was found that reviewed the effecti veness of psychologists in recognizing related medical concerns. This study examined the frequency with which a random sampling of psycholog ists reviewed specific medical factors with their patients during the initial psychological evaluation. The results reveal that many psychol ogists are sensitive to the possible influence of medical factors, whi ch is especially important given the increased focus of psychologists as primary care providers and the increasing collaborative practice ef forts between medicine and psychology. A summary and discussion of the se descriptive results are presented and recommendations are offered.