AGREEMENT ON DIAGNOSES OF MENTAL DISORDER IN THE PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE OF TURKU, FINLAND

Primary health care is in the central position in the general sphere o f mental health services. This article deals with, as a part of a join t Nordic project, the occurrence of mental disorders of patients in pr imary health care as based on the material (n = 1,000) collected in th e health centre of Turku. The relation of the occurrence of mental dis orders as diagnosed by means of a standardized psychiatric interview m ethod (PSE) to the disorders, recognized by general practitioners (GPs ) working in the health centre is also observed. It was found that one fourth of the patients had a clear mental disorder that required trea tment, while studies in the general population, using the same method, reveal only 10% as having some kind of mental disorder. Three quarter s of the evident mental disorders recognized by GPs were diagnosed as such also by the PSE, but the GPs were capable of recognizing only 43% of the cases identified by the PSE. On the basis of these results, th e importance of the mental health issue in the basic and postgraduate training of the general practitioners must be emphasized.