THE GENERAL PRACTITIONER AND THE PSYCHIATRIST

Abstract

1. Sixty percent of 416 general practitioner respondents felt that their psychiatric training was reasonably adequate. A desire for more presentations and informal discussions of office-type cases was expressed. 2. Generalists are in need of more instruction in counseling techniques. 3. Twenty-four percent of general practice was considered to be primarily psychiatric in nature. The respondents estimated that they could take care of 78% of their psychiatric patients themselves. The main complaint about psychiatric patients was that they take too much time and are often difficult to help. 4. The main difficulties with referring patients to a psychiatrist were the expense to the patient (72%), resistance on the part of the patient (43%) and lack of available psychiatrists (32%). 5. The main complaints of these generalists about psychiatrists were their lack of availability and the inadequate nature of psychiatric reports to the referring doctor. 6. That progress is being made was indicated by the fact that the younger general practitioners were better satisfied with their psychiatric training, and felt that they could and wished to take care of more of their psychiatric patients as compared to the older practitioners. Some suggestions are made for improving the help that the psychiatrist can give to the generalist in this important area of medical practice.