A trial of the effect of a standardised psychiatric consultation on health outcomes and costs in somatizing patients

This is a critical abstract of an economic evaluation that meets the criteria for inclusion on NHS EED. Each abstract contains a brief summary of the methods, the results and conclusions followed by a detailed critical assessment on the reliability of the study and the conclusions drawn. The authors concluded that this study contributed to the literature by describing a successful test of a psychiatric consultation intervention for patients who somatized but who did not meet diagnostic criteria for somatization disorder. If subsequent studies replicate these findings, consultations by physicians treating somatizing patients hold substantial promise to improve physical functioning whilst simultaneously reducing the costs of medical care.