Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the mental health of patients admitted in Internal medicine, Surgery and Gynecology wards of Imam Khomeini Hospital of Tehran in 2009.
Method: The symptom checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) questionnaire was administered for 93 patients in internal, surgical and gynecological wards of Imam Khomeini hospital in 2009.
Results: In this study, the mean age was (32.89±12.69) with a range of 14 to 70 years old. 42 patients (44.7%) were male and 52 (59.6%) were female; 56 patients (59.6%) were married and 37 (40.4%) were single. There is a significant relationship between gender& marital status (P<0.04). According to cut of point of Global Severity Index (GSI) which was reported in a study (0.7), 58.1 percent of the patients have different levels of psychiatric problems (GSI>0.7). In psychiatric symptoms, somatization has the highest prevalence (90.5%), and depression (77.9%) and anxiety (71.6%) have a higher prevalence than other symptoms among patients who suffer from psychiatric problems.
Conclusion: According to the result of the current study, there is a high prevalence of psychiatric problems among the admitted patients in Internal medicine, Surgery and Gynecology wards of a general hospital according to SCL-90-R questionnaire. This study advises that more attention be given to mental health in general hospitals.
Keywords: General hospital; Mental health; Psychiatry.