ABSTRACT
Psychiatric emergencies and crises are unforseeable by nature and can have devastating consequences. They can arise both in the course of chronic mental illness and in people who had not shown any previous signs of mental illness. Conditions that are so similar that they might be confused with one another can be caused by a wide range of internal illnesses, adverse side-effects of medications or intoxication. This is the reason why establishing a psychiatric diagnosis in emergency situations must be primarily driven by the question as to whether the differential diagnosis is an internal illness or rather intoxication. The most prevalent psychiatric emergencies in clinical practice are nervous breakdowns, psychomotor agitation and violence, suicidal tendencies, delirium, psychoses as well as addictions.
Subject(s)
Critical Care/methods , Emergency Medical Services/methods , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Mental Disorders/psychology , Acute Disease , Diagnosis, Differential , Emergencies , Humans , Mental Disorders/etiology , Mental Disorders/therapy , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Practice Patterns, Physicians' , SwitzerlandABSTRACT
The care of patients at risk and of addicts is more successful if the family physician and the psychologist combine their efforts and their know-how. The patient is included in this partnership based on mutual trust. With the example of a patient who lost his driver's licence, jeopardizing his employment, our therapeutic approach is described. More tolerance regarding drinking habits as well as care for relationships and awareness of genuine life quality would be desirable to prevent the development of addiction.
