Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T16:28:28.272Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychiatric aspects of diabetes mellitus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In 1899, Maudsley wrote:

“Diabetes is a disease which often shows itself in families in which insanity prevails: whether one disease predisposes in any way to the other or not, or whether they are independent outcomes of a common neurosis, they are certainly found to run side by side, or alternately with one another more often than can be accounted for by accidental coincidence or sequence”.

Recent research confirms that a range of psychological problems and psychiatric disorders are common in people with diabetes. Such problems are important not only because of the suffering caused, but also because of their impact upon the management and outcome of the diabetes itself. This article reviews the psychosocial impact of diabetes and its treatment, describes the range of psychological problems and psychiatric disorders which commonly occur in people with diabetes, and outlines the role of the psychiatrist in the recognition and management of these clinical problems.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1998 

References

Bazire, S. (1996) Psychotropic Drug Directory. Wiltshire: Mark Allen.Google Scholar
Diabetes Control and Complications Research Group (1993) The effect of intensive treatment of diabetes on the development and progression of long-term complications in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. New England Journal of Medicine, 329, 977986.Google Scholar
Fakhri, O., Fadhli, A. A. & el Rawi, R. M. (1980) Effect of electroconvulsive therapy on diabetes mellitus. Lancet, ii, 775777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairburn, C. G., Peveler, R. C., Davies, B. A. et al (1991) Eating disorders in young adults with insulin dependent diabetes: a controlled study. British Medical Journal, 303, 1720.Google Scholar
Finestone, D. H. & Weiner, R. D. (1984) Effects of ECT on diabetes mellitus. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 70, 321326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fris, R. & Nanjundapper, G. (1986) Diabetes, depression and employment status. Social Sciences and Medicine, 23, 471475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geringer, E. S. (1990) Affective disorders and diabetes mellitus. In Neuropsychological and Behavioural Aspects of Diabetes (ed. Holmes, C. S.) New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Greer, S., Morris, T. & Pettingdale, K. W. (1979) Psychological response to breast cancer: effect on outcome. Lancet, ii, 785787.Google Scholar
Harris, E. C. & Barraclough, B. M. (1994) Suicide as an outcome for medical disorders. Medicine, 73, 281296.Google Scholar
Hawton, K. (1985) Sex Therapy: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications.Google Scholar
Haynes, R. B., Taylor, D. W. & Sackett, D. L. (1979) Compliance in Healthcare. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
Jensen, S. B. (1981) Diabetic sexual dysfunction: a comparative study of 160 insulin treated diabetic men and women and an age matched control. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 10, 493504.Google Scholar
Kaplan, S. M., Mass, J. W., Pixley, J. M. et al (1960) Use of imipramine in diabetes. Journal of the American Medical Association, 174, 511517.Google Scholar
Kolodny, R. C. (1971) Sexual dysfunction in diabetic females. Diabetes, 20, 557559.Google Scholar
Lustman, P. J., Griffith, L. S., Gavard, J. A. et al (1992) Depression in adults with diabetes. Diabetes Care, 15, 16311639.Google Scholar
McCulloch, D. K., Campbell, I. W., Wu, F. C. et al (1980) The prevalence of diabetic impotence. Diabetologia, 18, 279283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maguire, P. & Haddad, P. (1996) Psychological reactions to physical illness. In Seminars in Liaison Psychiatry (eds Guthrie, E. & Creed, F.) pp. 157191. London: Gaskell.Google Scholar
Maudsley, H. (1899) The Pathology of Mind (3rd edn). New York: Appleton.Google Scholar
Mayou, R., Peveler, R., Davies, B. et al (1991) Psychiatric morbidity in young adults with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Psychological Medicine, 21, 639645.Google Scholar
Normand, P. S. & Jenike, M. A. (1984) Lowered insulin requirements after ECT. Psychosomatics, 25, 418419.Google Scholar
Orr, D. P., Golden, M. P., Myers, G. et al (1983) Characteristics of adolescents with poorly-controlled diabetes referred to a tertiary care centre. Diabetes Care, 6, 170175.Google Scholar
Peveler, R. C., Fairburn, C. G., Boller, I. et al (1992) Eating disorders in adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care, 10, 13561360.Google Scholar
Peveler, R. C. & Fairburn, C. G.– (1992) The treatment of bulimia nervosa in patients with diabetes mellitus. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 11, 4553.3.0.CO;2-R>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peveler, R. C. & Tooke, J. E. (1995) The young diabetic. In Psychiatric Aspects of Physical Disease (eds House, A., Mayou, R. & Mallinson, C.) pp. 916. London: Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Psychiatrists.Google Scholar
Popkin, M. K., Callies, A. L. & Mackenzie, T. B. (1985) The outcome of antidepressant use in the medically ill. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 11601163.Google Scholar
Rodgers, B. & Mann, S. A. (1986) The reliability and validity of PSE assessments by lay interviewers: a national population survey. Psychological Medicine, 16, 689700.Google Scholar
Saran, A. S. (1982) Antidiabetic effects of lithium. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 43, 383384.Google Scholar
Steel, J. M., Young, R. J., Lloyd, G. G. et al (1987) Clinically apparent eating disorders in young diabetic women: associations with painful neuropathy and other complications. British Medical Journal, 294, 859862.Google Scholar
Tattersall, R. B. (1985) Brittle diabetes. British Medical Journal, 291, 555557.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tattersall, R. B. & Walford, S. (1985) Brittle diabetes in response to life stress: “Cheating and Manipulation”. In Brittle Diabetes (ed. Pickup, J. C.) pp. 76102. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.Google Scholar
Trigwell, P. J., Grant, P. J. & House, A. O. (1997) Motivation and glycaemic control in diabetes mellitus. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 43, 307315.Google Scholar
True, B. L., Perry, P. J. & Burns, E. A. (1987) Profound hypoglycemia with the addition of a tricyclic antidepressant to maintenance sulfonylurea therapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 12201221.Google Scholar
Turkington, R. (1980) Depression masquerading as diabetic neuropathy. Journal of the American Medical Association, 243, 11471150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weyerer, S., Hewer, W., Pfeifer-Kurda, M. et al (1989) Psychiatric disorders and diabetes: results from a community study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 33, 633640.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, G., Borsey, D. Q., Leslie, P. et al (1988) Psychiatric morbidity and social problems in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 3843.Google Scholar
Williams, G., Gill, G. & Pickup, J. (1991) “Brittle” diabetes. British Medical Journal, 303, 714.Google Scholar
Wrigley, M. & Mayou, R. (1991) Psychosocial factors and admission for poor glycaemic control. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 35, 335344.Google Scholar
Wulsin, L. R., Jacobson, A. M. & Rand, L. I. (1987) Psychosocial aspects of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes Care, 10, 367373.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.