MANAGEMENT OF SOMATISERS IN PRIMARY-CARE - ARE FAMILY DOCTORS MOTIVATED

Objective: The aim of this paper is to assess the attitudes of Spanish general practitioners towards somatisers and the degree of involvemen t that family doctors are ready to adopt in the care of these patients . Method: A postal questionnaire on attitudes was sent to a representa tive sample (n = 135) of general practitioners from two health distric ts of the region of Aragon. Seventy (51.8%) of them returned usable qu estionnaires. Results: Most of the general practitioners were interest ed in the treatment of somatisers and considered that they should be t reated at primary care level. However, when specific treatment tasks w ere proposed, they only accepted to act as a filter to specialised car e and to care for patients with chronic functional syndromes. Addition ally, they refuse to detect presenting somatisers, to prescribe psycho tropic drugs or offer any psychological approach, and to avoid reinfor cing abnormal illness behaviour in these patients and their families. These findings can be explained because the main emotions somatisers p roduce in doctors are frustration and anger, Conclusions: Family docto rs need a lot more help, education and support in the management of so matisers, and psychiatrists need to provide it. Any management program for the treatment of somatisers in primary care should include method s to modify general practitioners' attitudes towards these patients.