The differential diagnosis of Axis I psychopathology presenting to a university-based multiple sclerosis clinic

¹ VISN 19 MIRECC (Mental Illness Research Educational Clinical Center), Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, Denver, CO, USA
² Neuropsychiatry Service, Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, CO, USA
³ University of Colorado Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, and Denver Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, Denver, CO, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Patients carrying a presumptive diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) sometimes present with non-specific clinical signs and symptoms that may be, at least in part, somatic manifestations of psychiatric conditions. This retrospective study was undertaken to identify psychiatric diagnoses among 63 patients whose initial clinical evaluations suggested a primary psychiatric, rather than a primary neurological, etiology for their symptoms. Some 92% of patients met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria for one or more primary psychiatric disorders, most often including somatoform, mood, and anxiety disorders. Accurate identification and diagnosis of psychiatric conditions producing pseudoneurological or non-specific somatic symptoms is necessary for both treatment and medico-economic reasons.

Key Words: differential diagnosis, multiple sclerosis, psychophysiological disorders, neurobehavioral manifestations, somatoform disorders, examinations

First published on March 15, 2007, doi:10.1177/1352458506075032

Multiple Sclerosis 2007;13:749.

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2007


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