Psychological treatments in liaison psychiatry: the evidence base.

tant in liaison psychiatry. Anxiety and depression are common among people with physical illnesses, influenced more by the person’s appraisal of his or her circumstances than by factors related to the disease itself such as severity of symptoms or prognosis. There are many different types of psychotherapy but the three main approaches are: • basic supportive techniques and problem solving • relational therapies • cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). Table 11–16 summarises the main highquality systematic reviews of psychological treatment interventions in liaison psychiatry. This updates the work of Ruddy and House17 who reviewed both pharmacological and psychological systematic reviews of treatment interventions in liaison psychiatry from 1980 to the end of 2002. The best evidence at present for the efficacy for psychological treatments is in patients who present with medically unexplained symptoms. Systematic reviews of psychological interventions in physical disease states have yielded only moderate effects.