Life events, psychiatric screening, and psychosomatic illness.

The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Schedule of Recent Events (SRE) were administered to a consecutive series of referrals to a general hospital psychiatric consultation service. Control groups of psychiatric and medical inpatients matched for age and sex were also evaluated. Significantly greater life change was found in the consultation group as compared to the medical controls, providing further support for the cluster theory of illness. The General Health Questionnaire was found to be an effective screening instrument for nonpsychotic emotional illness in a general hospital inpatient setting. A significant positive correlation between the GHQ scores and the SRE scores suggests a relationship which merits further study in the epidemiology of psychosomatic illness. The implications of the significant correlation of physical and emotional illness to clinical medical practice is briefly discussed.