Abstract
Patients waiting for psychotherapy show high levels of morbidity and distress from psychiatric symptoms and a high frequency of personality disorder diagnoses. They constitute a group at risk of completed suicide. Local NHS provision is less than half the minimum amount of treatment needed.
Highlights
Patients waiting for psychotherapy show high levels of morbidity and distressfrom psychiatric symptoms and a high frequency of personality disorder diagnoses
The aim of this study is to describe the symptom and personality disorder characteristics of patients waiting for treatment at a district psychotherapy service and to assess the severity of psychiatric disorder in this population
The most important results on the symptom measures are presented in Tables 1 and 2
Summary
Patients waiting for psychotherapy show high levels of morbidity and distressfrom psychiatric symptoms and a high frequency of personality disorder diagnoses. They constitute a group at risk of completed suicide. The term 'the worried well' has been used loosely for many years to describe patients who make frequent and inappropriate use of medical and psychiatric services. In mental illness settings these patients are felt to occupy inappropriately the time of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and community psychiatric nurses, those who work in specialist psy chotherapy departments. The aim of this study is to describe the symptom and personality disorder characteristics of patients waiting for treatment at a district psychotherapy service and to assess the severity of psychiatric disorder in this population
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