응급실 내원 정신과 환자의 유발요인과 임상양상의 관계에 대한 고찰 - 신경증 환자를 중심으로 -

Precipitating Factors and Symptom Manifestations in Neurotic Patients Visiting Emergency Room of a General Hospital

It has been known that sociocultural factors influence the features, symptoms and frequency of psychiatric disturbances. Few studies, however, have focused on the relationship between precipitating factors and symptoms in neurosis. This is an attempt to study the sociocultural aspect represented by certain precipitating factors and the effects of these precipitating factors on clinical symptoms. The study subjects were 189 psychiatric patients, excluding those with organic mental disorders, who had visited the Emergency Room of Kyung Hee University Hospital in 1986. The results obtained can be summarized as follows * 1. All patients, excluding those with organic mental disorders displayed &#8226;&#8226; 1) 73% of the total were female. 2) Precipitating factors were found more in the neurotics(87.5%) than in the psychotics(26.7%). 3) In diagnosis, the number of people with neurosis(76.2%) were greater than those with psychosis (23.8%). Neurosis was more prevalent in females(84.8%) than in males(52.9<%). 2. The Neurotic Group showed : 1) 81.3% of the neurotics were female. 2) The age distribution, in order of frequency, was in the 10s, 40s, 20s, 30s and 50s for males ; and, in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 10s and 60s for females. 3) Precipitating factors were more prevalent in females than in males. The most frequent precipitating factors were death(21.1%) for males, and marital problems(32.7%) for females. 4) Somatic symptoms were most often complained about by both males (51.9^) and females(32.5 %). 5) The most frequent diagnosis was anxiety disorder in males(29.6<%) and converstion disorder in females(32.5%). 6) The difference between symptom manifestations, according to the presence or absence of a precipitating factor, was significant for such items as somatic symptoms in males, with somatic, anxiety and psychotic symptoms in females. . 7) The difference between symptoms, according to the content of the precipitating factor, was not identified. In conclusion, the precipitating factors were more frequently found in female neurotics in their 20s and 30s. This suggests that females in those age groups were more vulnerable to external psychological stresses. The difference in the symptoms was noted according to the presence or absence of a precipitating factor, but not, according to the content of the precipitating factor.