The general practitioner's role in the management of psychiatric illness.

Psychiatric illness is of major social and medical importance. At least one fifth of the patients seen by doctors in general practice suffer predominantly from mental illness. Only one in twenty of these patients suffering from psychiatric disorders are referred to the hospital and specialist services. The general practitioner therefore deals with the bulk of psychaitric illnesses which constitutes a problem of considerable magnitude. Psychiatric illnesses may be considered in terms of the distrubance they cause in mental state. The following aspects of mental state are considered: consciousness, memory, mood, thinking, intelligence and personality. Disorders of each of these components of mental state are described and their management discussed.