The development of psychiatric medicine at Istanbul Faculty of Medicine and evaluation of 889 psychiatric referrals.

A clinical analysis of the psychiatric referrals (N = 889) during 1989-1991 is presented. The most prevalent psychiatric syndromes seen in both inpatients and outpatients are compared with reference to those areas of psychopathology that are less frequently identified by nonpsychiatrist physicians. The distribution of psychiatric referrals according to the various clinics in order of frequency was as follows: internal medicine, surgery, dermatology, and neurology. The most frequent reasons for consultation requests were (in order of frequency) the referring physician's difficulty in making a diagnosis; and patient anxiety, depression, adjustment problems, and past psychiatric illness in the history. Depressive illness was the most prevalent psychiatric disorder among both inpatient and outpatient referrals. However, the frequency of alcohol and substance abuse disorder in the inpatient population was only 3.17% and organic brain syndrome was the least frequently recognized psychiatric syndrome by the other clinicians. In this report, the clinical activities of the Liaison Psychiatry Unit of the Psychiatry Department in the Istanbul Medical Faculty are presented. The major problem areas and clinical training objectives of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Unit are discussed.