Abstract
The chapter covers the knowledge and skills that psychiatry and internal medicine share in the interest of a comprehensive care for a patient with health problems, that comprise the components of subjective experience, dysfunction and adverse effects of medical care. The opening part of the chapter describes therapeutic relationship and alliance between physician and patient as well as psychological defense mechanisms.
There is also an overview of the history of behavioral medicine and psychosomatic approach in medical evaluation and treatment. The next part of the chapter deals with the differential diagnosis of somatoform and anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, general anxiety disorder, and also somatization, somatoform and hypochondriac disorders.
Their symptoms may overlap with a number of physical conditions and lead to diagnostic confusion and treatment mistakes. Psychiatric symptoms associated with physical conditions like diabetes or coronary heart disease and their impact on the disease course and severity are also described.
Treatment induced and specifically drug induced psychiatric signs and symptoms are discussed as well. The chapter includes basic information on comorbidity of physical and psychiatric conditions, psychological and social factors that act as stressors in affecting the course and intensity of physical illness.
Finally, the position and function of liaison psychiatry in the care for a patient with internal disorder is discussed.