Depression in Medical In-Patients

Although there have been many accounts of depression in medical in-patients, there have been relatively few systematic studies of its prevalence and features. With respect to prevalence, most studies have concerned single medical diagnoses (4) or have been based on ward referrals to psychiatrists, in which referral practices may be of more importance than actual occurrences (10). Schwab et al. (12, 13) studied prevalence in 153 medical patients. They used multiple rating scales and compared depressed and non-depressed patients to investigate aetiological factors. Stewart et al. (14), who carried out a smaller study, also compared symptoms of five medical depressives with those of manic depressives.