Depression in patients referred for psychiatric consultation. A need for a new diagnosis.

The authors analyzed 329 referrals for psychiatric consultation from medical and surgical wards. They found depression to be the most prevalent diagnosis (34%), with Major Depression being the most common DSM-III subtype (49%). Depression was predominant in the elderly (p less than 0.05), in women (p less than 0.05), and in patients with a high degree of psychosocial stressors (p less than 0.01). There were significant differences among the DSM-III subtypes of depression in some of these correlates. The authors emphasize the importance of DSM-III in differentiating among the subtypes of depression in referred patients but they suggest the need for a new diagnosis for depression in the physically ill.