SOMATIC DISEASE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER

The association between physical and psychological disorders has been demonstrated repeatedly. There are a number of explanations for this a ssociation, each of them pointing to specific diseases and operational izations of mental distress. In this article, the relationship between various somatic diseases and a number of indices for psychological di stress was investigated. Within one study population, patients with di fferent somatic diseases were identified, and their experience with me ntal distress, their requests for help from their GP during consultati ons, and their GPs' diagnoses were registered and compared with the to tal study population: It appears that relationships could be demonstra ted between experience of distress and presentation of psychological s ymptoms during consultations, on the one hand, and common physical dis orders, on the other. Patients with neurological diseases (Parkinson's , epilepsy, multiple sclerosis) and gastric ulcers showed the same rel ationships, but were also more frequently diagnosed by the GP as havin g psychological disorders. Patients with a number of other serious som atic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, and arthritis, did not distin guish themselves in a positive way on one of indices for psychological distress. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.