The detection of psychiatric disorder by primary care physicians in Greece was investigated using four non-psychiatric physicians. The General Health Question naire indicated a high probable prevalence of psychiatric disorder (77.8%), but the physicians rated only 9.3% of the sample as cases. Eighty eight per cent of the probable cases were undetected by the doctors. The doctors' reporting of cases was not affected by the demographic characteristics of the sample and only weakly affected by the patients' total GHQ score. The high probable prevalence and low detection rate is a cause for concern and requires further investigation.
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