Psychiatric consultation in a spinal injuries unit.

The function of a consultation liaison service to a spinal injuries unit is described. Within this context, a study was conducted in which sociodemographic and clinical data were collected over a 4 year period for consecutive admissions to the unit. Data are presented for 227 patients admitted during this period. Forty-seven patients were found to have discrete psychiatric disorders (DSM III) which required treatment during the course of their inpatient care. For forty-two of these patients the psychiatric disorder first developed following spinal cord injury.