Depression: relationship to somatization and chronic medical illness
Katon, W.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 45(3 Part 2): 4-12
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0160-6689 PMID: 6698951 Document Number: 230835
Although depression has been found to be the most common medical or psychiatric diagnosis among patients seen in primary care settings, the disorder is often missed and/or treated inappropriately. Problems in differential diagnosis, particularly among patients presenting primarily with somatic complaints, are reviewed. A study is described in which patients referred to a psychiatric consultation-liaison service were categorized as somatizing or nonsomatizing and given DSM-III diagnoses. Somatoform disorders occurred in only 33% of somatizing patients; the predominant diagnosis in this group was major depression. Implications of these findings for the recognition and treatment of depression, especially that associated with physical symptoms or disease, are discussed.