title: A contrast of the three more common illnesses with the ten less common in a study and 18-month follow-up of 314 psychiatric emergency room patients.
abstract: The present study combines four factors: an initial research interview, a blind follow-up of the patients seen initially, the use of specified diagnostic criteria, and the application of these techniques to a psychiatric emergency room population of 314 patients. Follow-up studies were done in 299 patients (95%) a mean of 18.2 months after the initial interview. The patients were described diagnostically and demographically. There were three more common diagnoses: affective disorder, alcoholism, and antisocial personality. There were ten additional less common diagnoses, as well as an undiagnosed group and a group without diagnosis. There were single diagnoses in 190 patients and multiple diagnoses in the remaining 124 patients. Three diagnoses or less per patient were not uncommon; more than three diagnoses per patient were uncommon. Diagnoses of affective disorder, alcoholism, and antisocial personality occurred in 64% of the total number of diagnoses. The remainder of the diagnoses occurred in 36%. Prompt hospitalization occurred in 14% of the total sample.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008605:Mental Health Services; D008875:Middle Aged; D008923:Missouri; D009042:Motivation; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012744:Sex Ratio; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications