THE STAGGERING needs of the population for psychiatric care and the limited number of available personnel and facilities have led to newer orientations for psychiatrists and other physicians. Consultation psychiatry is one of the new approaches and although its past history is scanty, its future is promising. The consultation situation should be particularly favorable for psychiatric intervention, at least in the dimensions of time and place. The medical patient has already acknowledged his patient status, indicating that he is receptive of some type of help, and he is in the hospital or clinic where he assumes that he will receive the care he needs.
In order to meet the burgeoning demand, accurate identification of the patients needing consultations is essential. In the past, identification has been faulty, mainly because our view of these patients was incomplete. To paraphrase St. Paul, they were seen