A study of emergency psychiatric referrals in a teaching general hospital.

The socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of one hundred consecutive referrals from emergency O.P.D. of a teaching general hospital were studied. The referral rate was 5.4%. The source, reason and purpose of the referrals were studied. Half of the patients had presented with somatic symptoms. Altered sensorium, suicidal attempt and excitements together constituted one third of all emergency referrals. The diagnosis of neurosis was given in half of the patients and one third of all patients were labelled as suffering from hysterical neurosis. The nature of the presenting complaints and psychiatric diagnoses were comparable to that of the other studies.