Consultation-liaison psychiatry in China

Ji, Jianlin; Ye, Chenyu

General hospitals are usually cautious in their use of psychotropic drug, preferring to have them administered by psychiatrists. All the main psychiatric medications are available in general hospitals but they are typically used at lower doses than in specialty psychiatric settings. The Chinese Society of Psychiatry of the Chinese Medical Association has published a series of clinical guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of seven common mental illnesses (i.e., schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder) that can be used in general hospital settings. A simplified version of the guidelines for the treatment of anxiety disorders is also available. Recently neurologists and psychiatrists have jointly formulated the Consensus of Experts on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Nervous System Disease Associated with Depression and Anxiety Disorders [54] and the Consensus Expert Panel on the Definition, Diagnosis and Drug Treatment of Insomnia [55, 56] both of which are suitable for use by clinicians in general hospitals. And a recent volume entitled Psychiatry in the General Hospital, co-edited by Professors Wenyuan Wu and Jianlin Ji, provides a comprehensive overview of the recognition and management of psychiatric and psychosomatic problems that can occur in patients treated in general hospitals.