Unwelcome guests: bugbears of the emergency room physician.

In a prospective study on psychiatric emergencies in the setting of a general hospital, the phenomenon of repeat-visits was studied. Results confirm that repeaters represent a sizeable load on emergency services--about 18% of all psychiatric emergencies. Females and neurotics are over-represented among the repeaters. Chronic repeaters tend to evoke strong feelings among the emergency physicians thereby decreasing their chances of referral to the psychiatry resident on call.