Physical Signs and Symptoms

Patients report their symptoms and their subjective experience, and the physician puts that information into a differential diagnostic formulation. The physician’s understanding of the role of culture and cultural biases toward mental illness and of the physical components of psychiatric disorders results in a consideration of a psychiatric diagnosis. This process may occur even in the absence of the patient’s complaint of psychological symptoms. Instances in which patients’ physical complaints are parts of mood and anxiety disorders may cause diagnostic confusion for physicians who consider only medical diagnoses. As psychiatrists, our unique role as physicians enables us to pay attention to all symptoms without the bias of a mind–body dualism.