title: Consultation-liaison psychiatry at the crossroads: in search of a definition for the 1980s.
abstract: Consultation-liaison psychiatry did not emerge as a prominent psychiatric subspecialty until the remedicalization of the psychiatric profession in the 1970s. The author traces the history of consultation-liaison and discusses the various definitions of the subspecialty. He outlines how consultation-liaison psychiatrists work in general hospitals and medical school departments of psychiatry. The future of consultation-liaison psychiatry, the author says, depends on developments in four areas: psychosomatic research, behavioral medicine, holistic health care, and general hospital psychiatry. To ensure a bright future for the subspecialty, consultation-liaison psychiatrists must meet fiscal, research, and political challenges, make peace with other behavioral scientists, develop close relations with the nursing profession, enjoy the support of medical school departments of psychiatry, and transform the consultation model into a comprehensive consultation-liaison model.
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy; D005544:Forecasting; D006694:Holistic Health; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000639:trends*; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012803:Sick Role; D014481:United States