Approximately 40 % of general medical attendance is for psychiatric reasons. But at the same time

a good number of psychiatric conditions are treated as organic medical disorder.

An old man who was losing his memory, forgot his way back home and a few other memory lapses

was diagnosed as one of dementia; where he was suffering from ‘pseudo dementia caused by

Depression.To make a difference ,in pseudo dementia, the patient COMPLAINS about his memory

lapse where as in dementia patient never complains. other depressive features will help.

Anxiety neurosis is sometimes mistaken for hyper thyroid state. A hand shake will show the

difference-(the palm is warm and moist in hyper thyroid where as cold &moist in Anxiety neurosis.

Sometimes psych conditions are precipitated by organic background. For eg: hypothyroid state

making treatment of depression refractory.Another eg; is Receptive aphasia treated as schizophrenia

because talk is not relevant;in such cases spontaneous speech should be observed.

I did’nt elaborate and list all such conditions to bore you. I wanted this to be like a mini-skirt,

which is long enough to cover the subject but short enough to kindle your interest!