Pattern of drug abuse in patients with psychogenic cough

ABSTRACT

The present study was conduced with aims to find out the pattern of symptoms and drug abuse in patients suffering from psychogenic cough. A cross sectional descriptive study A tertiary care teaching hospital In the present study, a series of thirty two cases of psychogenic cough is reported. Of 32 cases, there were 19 females [59.4%] and 13 males [40.6%]. A majority of patients had cough for more than one month. School phobia [in children] and fear of rejection and need for attention were the commonest precipitating or perpetuating factors. Seventeen patients [53.1%] had a psychiatric disorder, the commonest being conversion disorder [21.9%] followed by mixed anxiety and depressive disorder [12.5%]. Drug therapy and/or psychotherapy were used as treatment with, 12 cases [37.5%] showing remission, 16 cases [50.0%] having improvement and 4 cases [12.5%] continuing with the complaint. Psychogenic cough needs timely recognition and appropriate treatment to avoid drug abuse. Further studies are warranted to study the treatment and outcome of this important psychiatric disorder