Recent epidemiologic studies have found that most patients with mental illness are seen exclusively in primary care medicine. These patients often present with medically unexplained somatic symptoms and utilize at least twice as many health care visits as controls. There has been an exponential growth in studies in this interface between primary care and psychiatry in the last 10 years. This special section, edited by Jürgen Unutzer, M.D., will publish informative research articles that address primary care-psychiatric issues.
Depression, anxiety and somatization in primary care: syndrome overlap and functional impairment