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Psychiatric morbidity in patients referred for individual psychotherapy within and outwith the NHS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John R. Mitchell*
Affiliation:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
Chris P. Freeman
Affiliation:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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Aims and method

Demographic and medical characteristics of waiting list patients for National Health Service (NHS) psychotherapy, non-NHS psychotherapy or NHS general adult psychiatry were compared by postal questionnaires.

Results

One hundred and eighty-three subjects replied. High rates of psychiatric morbidity were reported in both psychotherapy populations but general psychiatric referrals were more disturbed, taking more psychotropic medication than non-NHS psychotherapy but not NHS psychotherapy subjects. The biggest referral source to non-NHS psychotherapy was general practitioners.

Clinical implications

Non-NHS psychotherapists should be able to recognise severe mental illness and have a basic understanding of psychotropic medication and psychiatric services.

Type
Original papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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