Consultation-liaison research: the use of differing perspectives.

Slavney and McHugh have discussed the four perspectives in psychiatry in respect to their strengths and weaknesses. Research in consultation-liaison psychiatry is reviewed by considering the various perspectives that such studies utilize. Early studies utilized the life story methodology and the disease model. The life history approach considers each patient as a unique subject whose developmental vicissitudes have meaningful associations. These studies were often viewed through a psychoanalytic theory. The disease model demands syndromal identification so that etiologic factors, whether biological, psychological or social, may eventually be discovered. More contemporary investigations use the dimensional measurement of intersubject differences that allow better designation of personality. The fourth perspective of motivated behavior offers a method of studying goal-directed activity such as substance abuse, eating pathology, and sleep disorders. Consultation-liaison studies using each framework are reviewed.