Anxiety disorders – management
Anxiety disorders – management Assessment Assessment of a person presenting with anxiety begins with a full psychiatric history. The history of the presenting complaint should establish whether the symptoms of…
Dissociative and somatoform disorders
Dissociative and somatoform disorders Dissociative (conversion) disorders Dissociative disorders present with physical or cognitive signs that have no organic cause. They have a sudden onset and are triggered by a…
Bipolar disorder – clinical presentation and management
Bipolar disorder – clinical presentation and management Clinical presentation of mania In manic episodes, there are characteristic changes in mood, biological functions and thinking, and in severe cases psychotic symptoms…
Substance misuse
Substance misuse Psychoactive drug users come into contact with medical services when acutely intoxicated, dependent or mentally ill. Acute intoxication is a transient alteration in the level of consciousness, accompanied…
Depressive disorder – clinical presentation
Depressive disorder – clinical presentation Case history 16 Sharon is a 26-year-old single woman who lives alone and works as a civil engineer. She is having problems at work as…
Diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia
Diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia Schizophrenia is the illness most readily associated with psychiatry. It has a variable course and in some cases may involve only a few short episodes…
Mental state examination
Mental state examination In psychiatry we are largely dependent upon the patient’s subjective account of symptoms in order to reach a diagnosis, with few opportunities to do objective diagnostic tests….
Epidemiology and aetiology of mood disorders
Epidemiology and aetiology of mood disorders Case history 14 Kwame has bipolar affective disorder. He asks you whether his adult children are likely to develop the condition and if there…
Epidemiology and aetiology of schizophrenia
Epidemiology and aetiology of schizophrenia Much is known about the aetiology of schizophrenia but the exact nature of the condition is still unclear. One problem in researching this area is…
Depressive disorder – management
Depressive disorder – management The differential diagnosis of depressive episodes is shown in Figure 1. Physical causes of depression need to be excluded, through physical examination and, if indicated, physical…
