Brief Reports
Patients presenting with depression to a psychiatry clinic:a descriptive survey
Authors:
- Thilini RajapakseEmail Thilini Rajapakse
- Abeera Sivapalasingam
Abstract
Clinical experience suggests that depression is common in Sri Lanka. This study aims to describe the characteristics of patients with depressive symptoms presenting to a psychiatry clinic at a teaching hospital in central Sri Lanka, over a period of one year. Information was collected retrospectively, based on clinic notes. Relatively older patients (mean age 41 years), female patients (65.3%) and those with a recent history of attempted self harm (28.5%) were common. Attempted self-poisoning was the commonest method of attempted self harm. Patients with co-morbid alcohol use disorders (5.6%), and those with prominent symptoms of somatisation (31.2%), were less than expected.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljpsyc.v2i1.3166
SL J Psychiatry 2011; 2 (1): 36-38
Keywords:
- Year: 2011
- Volume: 2 Issue: 1
- Page/Article: 36-38
- DOI: 10.4038/sljpsyc.v2i1.3166
- Published on 29 Jun 2011
- Peer Reviewed