Mental disorder in the community and in general practice - Peter F. M. Verhaak

Mental illness can be defined from a professional point of view (the psychiatric diagnosis and its indicators) or from the subjective experienced needs of the patients, as expressed by their demands for help. - - The central theme of the book is the tension between professionally established Need and the need the patient experiences, resulting in a Demand for help. This discussion is particularly of importance in primary care settings, where specialists, be they dermatologists, gynaecologists or psychiatrists, keep complaining that GPs stick to the adagium that a patient?s demand is his command.