Prior History Of Psychiatric Illness Research Articles

Assessment and classification of patients with psychiatric and substance abuse syndromes. 1989.

Patients with both mental illness and substance abuse pose a major clinical challenge to mental health and substance abuse clinicians. The literature seems to support the hypothesis that mental illness and substance abuse occur together more frequently than chance would predict. Assessment and classification of these patients should be guided by clinicians' needs to make meaningful therapeutic judgments and to communicate effectively with each other in coordinating treatment. Different phases of treatment require different approaches to assessment and classification. In initial classification, the clinician should recognize the problem of dual diagnosis and resist premature assumptions about which diagnosis is primary. Long-term treatment and rehabilitation may require systematic evaluation of alternative clinical by potbeses about why a patient exhibits both disorders. This approach eventually may lead to better ways to assess, classify, and treat these difficult patients.

Therapeutic abortion and a prior psychiatric history.

A follow-up study of 126 women who received abortions on psychiatric grounds revealed that the 52 women with a history of prior psychiatric illness did not experience significantly more post-abortion emotional reactions than the others. Ninety-six percent of the psychiatric group and 92 percent of the others reported that their emotional health was better or normal afterward.

Therapeutic Abortion: A Follow-up Study

A psychiatric and psychological follow-up assessment of 21 patients accepted for abortion on psychiatric grounds, 21 patients denied abortion on psychiatric grounds and 11 patients accepted for abortion on medical grounds was carried out. A history of prior psychiatric illness appeared to be a pointer towards therapeutic termination of pregnancy when psychiatrically disturbed pregnant women were referred for assessment. Despite a high incidence of short-lived guilt reactions, this particular group of patients generally reported a beneficial effect on their lives 2 years later. Many, but not all, of the psychiatrically disturbed patients who were refused abortion became reconciled to the decision. The medical group who were aborted tended to view the operation as an unfortunate necessity. A decision for or against termination of pregnancy must take account of many factors—previous psychiatric history, present mental state, patient's attitude towards the pregnancy, marital adjustment, personality structure and medical condition