Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Emeritus Christopher Dowrick, University of Liverpool, UK
- Second opponent: Professor Øystein Hetlevik, University of Bergen,
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor II Toril Dammen, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor Emeritus Tor Iversen, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Professor Mette Brekke, University of Oslo
Summary
Mental health disorders are prevalent, exerting a significant demand on patients, health care systems, and society. Studies find that these disorders often remain undiagnosed by general practitioners in primary care.
This thesis explores the prevalence of mental health diagnoses in general practice, their association with somatic symptom diagnoses, and the correlation between general practitioners’ diagnoses and patient-reported mental distress.
This was conducted through cross-sectional analyses of a complete cohort of patients’ electronic medical records for 12 months, combined with a questionnaire study with patients.
Nearly one in five patients had received a mental health diagnosis, and these patients had a significant increase in consultations, regardless of the reason for contact. Depression, anxiety, acute stress reaction and sleep disorder were the most common diagnoses.
Patients with common mental health diagnoses had a significant increase in the number of somatic symptom diagnoses during the 12 months. We found similar somatic symptoms associated with having a mental health disorder with small variations.
We found a clear association between the level of patient-reported mental distress and the probability of having received a mental health diagnosis. The probability of a diagnosis increased with increasing levels of mental distress and an increasing number of consultations. Still, only three in four patients with high levels of mental distress had received a mental health diagnosis.
In conclusion, patients diagnosed with mental health disorders report higher mental distress, have more frequent consultations, and increased somatic symptoms. Improved comprehension of mental health identification and diagnosis in primary care is crucial to provide better outcomes in the future.
Additional information
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