ABSTRACT

Many patients, with psychosocial and psychiatric problems, present to general medical settings with persistent worries about their health. Such patients can present with medically unexplained symptoms and/or excessive concerns about their health. They may often have associated symptoms of depression and anxiety. Such presentations are also frequently associated with psychosocial stress, stressful life events, poor coping, and limited social support. The subcategorization into different disorders such as depression, anxiety, somatoform disorders, and hypochondriasis is diffi cult because of milder symptoms, subsyndromal and mixed presentations.