Summary In February 2003,Hong Kongwashit by a community-wide outbreakof severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).During the period of the outbreak,10 patientswith SARSwith psychiatric complicationswerereferred to our Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry Teamfor assessment andmanagement.We

Kongwashit by a community-wide outbreakof severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).During the period of the outbreak,10 patientswith SARSwith psychiatric complicationswerereferred to our Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry Teamfor assessment andmanagement.We found that boththe direct and indirect effects of SARS such as symptom severity, total isolation during treatment and administration of steroidwere probable causes of psychiatric complications.In this paper, wereportonthenature oftheir psychiatric problems, challenges to management andpsychiatric treatment strategies used during the acute phase.