Search is Powered by Google
Follow us on:
Follow our health news on Twitter
Follow Our News on Facebook
Personalization
login | register
Psychology / Psychiatry News

Doctors Are Prejudiced Against Patients With Mental Health Disorders

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Mental Health;  Schizophrenia
Article Date: 23 Jun 2007 - 1:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions   rate icon rate article


Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:5 stars

4.67 (24 votes)

Health Professional:5 stars

4.67 (6 votes)

Article Opinions: 3 posts

People who are ill and have psychiatric disorders are not treated as effectively by doctors compared to those who have no mental health problems.

Dr Alex Mitchell, a consultant psychiatrist, and Dr Darren Malone, a specialist registrar in psychiatry, who work at the Department of Liaison Psychiatry at Leicester General Hospital, reviewed a number of studies focussing on preventative and physical care of patients with and without mental illness.

They looked at screening for cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, HIV and cervical and breast cancer and treatment for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, HIV and cancer care.

Unveiling their findings to the annual meeting, they found that of the 14 studies which looked at health screening, 12 suggested inferior quality of care. Of the 23 studies comparing care for patients with and without mental illness 14 suggested poor quality of care when it came to recommending drug treatment, diagnostic and investigative procedures and surgical interventions.

Said Dr Mitchell: "People who are mentally ill sometimes don't seek screening, but the more powerful reason is that once the medical team knows a patient has psychiatric problem, they give them poorer quality of care.

"Doctors don't like dealing with patients with psychiatric problems. They view them as different and they spend les time with them. They don't offer the patient the same intensity of investigation as the non mentally-ill patient. It's prejudicial treatment."

The Royal College Of Psychiatrists Annual Meeting
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
19-22 June 2007




Personalized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Hemophilia Opioid Induced Constipation Pneumococcal Disease ADHD Anxiety Asthma Atrial Fibrillation Autism Cancer Diabetes Lung Cancer Lupus Medicare / Medicaid Obesity and BMI Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells All 'What Is...' Articles

Ophthalmology Urology
About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Links Contact Us

add medical news today to your facebook
medical news gadget

Please fill in our survey

Swine Flu Image

Swine Flu Updates

- Latest Swine Flu News
- What is Swine Flu?
- Map Of H1N1 Outbreaks
- Swine Flu - Top 20 FAQ
- Daily Email News Alerts
Stick with Medical News Today for the latest news updates on swine flu.


These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Top Article Star
Same-Sex Behavior Seen In Nearly All Animals, Review Finds
20 Jun 2009
Same-sex behavior is a nearly universal phenomenon in the animal kingdom, common across species, from worms to frogs to birds, concludes a new review of existing research. "It's clear that same-sex sexual behavior extends...


Keeping Seniors Safe in the Heat
Keeping Seniors Safe in the Heat

Keeping cool this summer means avoiding heat stroke, the most serious heat-related illness, and heat exhaustion, a milder affliction but still a dangerous one. Older people are especially vulnerable to both.

more videos are available in our health videos section.