Psychiatrist claims 20% of physical complaints stress related

An Irish psychiatrist has claimed that one in five of all the physical complaints made by the Irish public are either directly or partly related to stress.

Professor Jim Lucey Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at TCD will make his case at the the Irish Society of Rheumatology Autumn Meeting this week.

Mr Lucey asserts that better awareness among Irish doctors of mental illness issues and a greater willingness to raise those problems with the patients themselves could help eliminate around 10% of physiological problems from Irish patients.

Recent research elsewhere has shown that typically 16.% of physiological complaints have a root entirely in mental health issues and that just under 20% are either wholly or partly linked to these issues.