Psychological Dimensions in Patients admitted in Imam Khomeini General Hospital in Tehran

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the mental health of patients admitted in Internal medicine, Surgery and Gynecology wards of Imam Khomeini Hospital of Tehran in 2009. METHOD The symptom checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) questionnaire was administered for 93 patients in internal, surgical and gynecological wards of Imam Khomeini hospital in 2009. RESULTS In this study, the mean age was (32.89±12.69) with a range of 14 to 70 years old. 42 patients (44.7%) were male and 52 (59.6%) were female; 56 patients (59.6%) were married and 37 (40.4%) were single. There is a significant relationship between gender& marital status (P<0.04). According to cut of point of Global Severity Index (GSI) which was reported in a study (0.7), 58.1 percent of the patients have different levels of psychiatric problems (GSI>0.7). In psychiatric symptoms, somatization has the highest prevalence (90.5%), and depression (77.9%) and anxiety (71.6%) have a higher prevalence than other symptoms among patients who suffer from psychiatric problems. CONCLUSION According to the result of the current study, there is a high prevalence of psychiatric problems among the admitted patients in Internal medicine, Surgery and Gynecology wards of a general hospital according to SCL-90-R questionnaire. This study advises that more attention be given to mental health in general hospitals.