Doctor to Doctor - Liaison Psychiatry
Liaison
psychiatric services at The Eastbourne Clinic have been
developed by our consultants.
They
treat such conditions as Somatoform Autonomic Dysfunction
whereby patients present with physical symptoms although
the cause is psychological. These are not " All in
the Mind " since the symptoms and complaints are very
real to the person experiencing them. An example of this
would be severe chest pain which bears the similarity to
an infarct. Numerous physical investigations can find no
physical cause and the patient does not respond to any form
of analgesia. If the patient were referred to a Liaison
Psychiatrist they would gather further information about
the patient including details of their upbringing / early
experiences / personality / worries / anxieties and other
factors that may have interfered with their perception of
pain or their " translation " of it.
Part
of the CNS called the ANS seems to be particularly important
in " translating " thoughts and feelings into
bodily sensations. The therapy would " translate "
back from body to mind and then deal with the emotional
/ psychological issues that this raises. Concentrating on
the source of a particular pain or discomfort can actively
make it worse.
This
approach is equally important for people with various physical
conditions so that they do not " make it worse "
but rather learn how to cope with those conditions and alleviate
the symptoms. Thus, a person with pain associated with the
narrowing of blood vessels can, apart from the usual medical
/ surgical treatments benefit from Autogenic Training (
AT ) which is a set of exercises available to patients through
which they can, in this instance, increase their blood circulation
and alleviate pain.
Some
examples of conditions which benefit from the interventions
of a liaison psychiatrist.
- Chronic
Pain;
- Chronic
fatigue;
- Irritable
Bowel syndrome;
- Bladder
Dysfunction;
- Pelvic
congestion syndrome;
- Non-epileptic
seizures (included in people with a history of epilepsy);
- Sleep
disorders (non-organic).
Psychological
reactions to physical illnesses or body dysfunction due
to psychological disturbances.
- Epilepsy;
- Strokes;
- Parkinson's
Disease;
- Diabetes;
- Thyroid
Dysfunction.
For
further information about our service please don't hesitate
to contact the Eastbourne Clinic on 01323 430831 or email us on admin@eastbourneclinic.com.
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