[Knowledge of the diagnosis and drug treatment of psychiatric patients].

Among 117 patients of the psychiatric department of a university hospital, semistandardized interviews were conducted to examine their ideas about their diagnosis and psychopharmacological treatment. At the times of the interviews, 55.5% of the patients were fairly correct about their diagnosis, 49% could name more than half the drugs prescribed, 46.5% knew at least some of the side effects, and 32% had largely appropriate ideas about the desired drug effects. The level of knowledge about the diagnosis and psychopharmacological treatment was not related to the diagnosis or to the duration of disease. Patients who had had the benefit of further or higher education and patients whose physicians regard comprehensive patient information about diagnosis as favourable were better informed. Out-patients knew more about psychopharmacological treatment than in-patients. Information about diagnosis and therapy enables patients to understand their symptoms and to integrate them into their own disease concept, provided their existing medical knowledge and disease concepts are taken into consideration.