Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T10:07:40.567Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The role of a neuropsychiatry clinic in a tertiary referral teaching hospital: a 2-year study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2014

F. Jabbar
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
A. Doherty
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
R. Duffy
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
M. Aziz
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
P. Casey
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
J. Sheehan
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
T. Lynch
Affiliation:
The Dublin Neurological Institute at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, and the Dublin Academic Medical Centre, Dublin, Ireland
B. D. Kelly*
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
*
Address for correspondence: B. D. Kelly, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Adult Psychiatry, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, 62/63 Eccles Street, Dublin 7, Ireland. (Email: brendankelly35@gmail.com)

Abstract

Objectives

Mental disorder is common among individuals with neurological illness. We aimed to characterise the patient population referred for psychiatry assessment at a tertiary neurology service in terms of neurological and psychiatric diagnoses and interventions provided.

Methods

We studied all individuals referred for psychiatry assessment at a tertiary neurology service over a 2-year period (n= 82).

Results

The most common neurological diagnoses among those referred were epilepsy (16%), Parkinson’s disease (15%) and multiple sclerosis (8%). The most common reasons for psychiatric assessment were low mood or anxiety (48%) and medically unexplained symptoms or apparent functional or psychogenic disease (21%). The most common diagnoses among those with mental disorder were mood disorders (62%), and neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders, including dissociative (conversion) disorders (28%). Psychiatric diagnosis was not related to gender, neurological diagnosis or psychiatric history.

Conclusion

Individuals with neurological illness demonstrate significant symptoms of a range of mental disorders. There is a need for further research into the characteristics and distribution of mental disorder in individuals with neurological illness, and for the enhancement of integrated psychiatric and neurological services to address the comorbidities demonstrated in this population.

Type
Short Report
Copyright
© College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carson, AJ, Ringbauer, B, MacKenzie, L, Warlow, C, Sharpe, M (2000). Neurological disease, emotional disorder and disability: they are related: a study of 300 consecutive new referrals to a neurology outpatient department. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 68, 202206.Google Scholar
Insel, TR, Quirion, R (2005). Psychiatry as a clinical neuroscience discipline. Journal of the American Medical Association 294, 22212224.Google Scholar
Lloyd, GG (2000). Who should treat psychiatric disorders in neurology patients. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 68, 134135.Google Scholar
Martin, JB (2002). The integration of neurology, psychiatry and neuroscience in the 21st century. American Journal of Psychiatry 159, 695704.Google Scholar
Tellez-Zenteno, JF, Patten, SB, Jetté, N, Williams, J, Wiebe, S (2007). Psychiatric comorbidity in epilepsy: a population-based analysis. Epilepsia 48, 23362344.Google Scholar
World Health Organisation (1992). The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. World Health Organisation: Geneva.Google Scholar