Patient benefits from psychosocial care: screening for distress and models of care.

摘要

Early studies examining the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in patients with cancer used instruments developed in psychiatry and evaluated them against standardized diagnostic interviews.4"6 They reported prevalence of depression from 10% to 50% and demonstrated that screening instruments detected more psychiatric problems than oncology staff. However, it was increasingly recognized that only a significant minority of patients with cancer will be diagnosed with clinically significant depression or anxiety, whereas the majority of patients experience a moderate level of emotional distress, generally not meeting criteria for psychiatric diagnosis. However, even if this distress may not require psychiatric treatment, patients nevertheless may need appropriate psychological or social interventions. This realization led to conceptualization of distress in patients with cancer as a related, but separate entity, requiring recognition and tailored interventions.