An Overview of Consultation – Liaison Psychiatry and Current Trend in West African Sub-Region

Significant proportion of patients seen in the general hospital setting with organic pathologies suffer from one form of psychiatric complication or the other. Consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry, a sub-specialization of mental healthcare involves a close collaboration between psychiatrists and non-psychiatric clinicians or other health workers in the management of general hospital patients with secondary psychiatric disorder and/or psychosocial complications. In Africa, 15-25% of psychiatric disorders are attributable to physical illnesses; the commonest being infections/infestations. Acute organic brain syndrome followed by depression is the commonest psychiatric complications of organic pathologies encountered in C-L psychiatry in Africa. Despite the dearth of psychiatrists in the West Africa sub region which has hampered the steady growth of C-L psychiatry over the past few decades; modest progress is currently being made especially in the study of psychiatric morbidities in general hospital wards using instruments with proven psychometric properties. Keywords: Consultation-Liaison psychiatry; Overview; West AfricaNQJHM Vol. 15 (4) 2005: pp. 168-17