Abstract

RINCON, Hernán G. Psychiatry is a Step Child of Medicine.. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2005, vol.34, n.2, pp.276-297. ISSN 0034-7450.

In this interview Dr. James Strain, psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Medical Center University in New York describes consultation-liaison psychiatry, also recently termed psychosomatic medicine. Psychiatry is mentioned as a step-child in medicine because its locus is not in the body like all other medical specialties. Besides, it had nothing to offer until after World War II, and after that as a «second level» discipline, it was left out of medicine and insurance companies. Consultation-liaison psychiatry is described as dedicated to co-morbidity so that it is almost exclusively centered in the general hospital, the latter being described as a «de-facto mental health system». Psychiatric interventions in the general hospital were highlighted as able to return savings up to eight times the money invested.

Keywords : psychiatry; psychosomatic medicine; crisis intervention; comorbidity.

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