Psychiatric Comorbidity and Medical Illness

Abstract

A substantial amount of evidence is available that indicates comorbid psychiatric disorders are frequently unrecognized and untreated in medical illness. Furthermore, often times medical illnesses are not examined as possible contributors to the psychiatric condition. Anxiety, depression, and psychosis are all common psychiatric manifestations witnessed as comorbid states in primary health care. It is vital to the overall outcome and well-being of patients that comorbid states be identified and treated to improve quality of life, increase rates of compliance, improve psychosocial functioning, and decrease the total costs of treating the disease state. The following article emphasizes the importance of recognizing psychiatric comorbidity with medical illness and how these comorbid states are often overlooked. A number of disease states are reviewed that have been studied and shown to have improved outcomes and decreased mortality rates when both the psychiatric conditions and medical illness are treated.