The importance of the GHQ in general practice.

The relationship between General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score and complaints presented at the general practitioners office was examined, and showed that the correlation between them is not as high as might be expected. Many patients who present psychosocial problems to their GP appear to have a low GHQ score; many patients with a high GHQ score exclusively present somatic complaints, which are also assessed by the GP as being purely somatic. Implications of the results are discussed.