Why illness perceptions matter
Keith J. Petrie, John A Weinman · Clinical Medicine · 2006
ConclusionsUntreated depression in patients with physical illness causes distress, amplifies physical symptoms and is more predictive of functional impairment over time than severity of physical illness.For example, patients with rheumatoid arthritis who become depressed may present with increasingly painful joints in the absence of increased disease activity.Also, diabetic patients with depression have worse glucose control and are more likely to have diabetic complications.It is therefore important that all clinicians should be aware of the frequency of depression in physical illness, be able to recognise it and have an understanding of its management.References 1 Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Psychiatrists.The psychological care of medical patients.London: RCP, RCPsych,