Hospital & community psychiatry
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The somatoform disorders were included as a new category of mental disorders in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The authors review the major features of somatization disorder, conversion disorder, psychogenic pain disorder, and hypochondriasis and present a survey of the recent literature about each.
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Hosp Community Psychiatry · Oct 1982
Case ReportsResponse strategies for chart requests from psychiatric inpatients.
Of 452 patients seen during one year on a medical-school-affiliated general hospital psychiatric unit, 26 requested to see their charts. These patients tended to be younger, more likely to have character disorders, and less likely to have an affective disorder than patients who did not make chart requests. ⋯ Rather than causing therapists to become defensive, record requests should provide an opportunity for education and treatment. The authors outline methods of interpreting and responding to chart requests.
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Without reform and linkage to unified care system, state hospitals may become overcrowded and underfunded during the coming decades. The author delineates ten epidemiologic, demographic, and systemic factors that point to increases in episodes of chronic illness which are most likely to end in state hospitalization. General hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based programs are compared as possible substitutes for state hospitals. Finally the author recommends twelve internal reforms to strengthen the state hospital system as an integral part of the chronic care network.