Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T16:39:37.426Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The management of somatisation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Graeme C. Smith
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.

Somatisation remains a matter of bewilderment in medicine. Medical students have trouble defining it, psychiatry trainees wilt in its presence, and all doctors are prone to become entangled in it. The current spate of reviews on the topic is appropriate (Mayou et al, 1995a; Barsky, 1996; Gill & Bass, 1996). There is a great need for those required to manage patients with ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ to be informed sufficiently to take a stance on the theoretical issues involved and develop appropriate management plans.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment , Volume 2 , Issue 6 , November 1996 , pp. 241 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1996 

References

American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th Edn) (DSM–IV). Washington: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Barsky, A. J. (1996) Hypochondriasis. Medical management and psychiatric treatment. Psychosomatics, 37, 48–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bass, C. (1994) Somatisation disorder: the need for effective intervention studies. General Hospital Psychiatry, 16, 379–380.Google Scholar
Bass, C. & Murphy, M. (1995) Somatoform and personality disorders: syndromal comorbidity and overlapping developmental pathways. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 39, 403–427.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berrios, G. & Porter, R. (eds) (1995) A History of Clinical Psychiatry. London: Athlone.Google Scholar
Cohen-Cole, S. A., Howell, E. F., Barrett, J. E. et al (1991) Consultation-liaison research: four selected topics. In Handbook of Studies on General Hospital Psychiatry (eds Judd, F. K., Burrows, G. B. & Lipsitt, D. R.) pp. 79–98. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Gill, D. & Bass, C. (1997) Somatoform and dissociative disorders: assessment and treatment. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, D., Gask, L. & O'Dowd, T. (1989) The treatment of somatisation: teaching techniques of reattribution. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 33, 689–695.Google Scholar
Guthrie, E. (1996) Emotional disorder in chronic illness: psychotherapeutic interventions. British Journal of Psychiatry, 168, 265–273.Google Scholar
Guthrie, E., Creed, F. H., Dawson, D. et al (1991) A controlled study of psychological treatment of the irritable bowel syndrome. Gastroenterology, 100, 450–457.Google Scholar
Hiller, W., Rief, W. & Fichter, M. M. (1995) Further evidence for a broader concept of somatisation disorder using the somatic symptom index. Psychosomatics, 36, 285–294.Google Scholar
Jachna, J. S., Lane, R.D. & Gelenberg, A. J. (1996) Psychopharmacology. In Textbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (eds Rundell, J. R. & Wise, M. G.) pp. 958–1005. Washington: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
Kashner, T. M., Rost, K., Cohern, B. et al (1995) Enhancing the health of somatisation disorder patients. Effectiveness of short-term group therapy. Psychosomatics, 36, 462–470.Google Scholar
Kirmayer, L. J., Robbins, J. M. & Paris, J. (1994) Somatoform disorders: personality and the social matrix. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 125–136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lipowski, Z. J. (1968) Review of consultation psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine: III. Theoretical issues. Psychosomatic Medicine, 30, 394–422.Google Scholar
Lipowski, Z. J. (1988) Somatisation: the concept and its clinical application. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 1358–1368.Google Scholar
Mayou, R. (1996) Accident neurosis revisited. British Journal of Psychiatry, 168, 399–403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayou, R., Bass, C. & Sharpe, M. (eds) (1995a) Treatment of Functional Somatic Symptoms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mayou, R., Bass, C. & Sharpe, M. (1995b) Overview of epidemiology, classification, and aetiology. In Treatment of Functional Somatic Symptoms (eds Mayou, R., Bass, C. & Sharpe, M.) pp. 42–65. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Menninger, W. C. (1947) Psychosomatic medicine: somatization reactions. Psychosomatic Medicine, 9, 92–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pilowsky, I. (1978) A general classification of abnormal illness behaviours. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 51, 131–137.Google Scholar
Robbins, J. M. & Kirmayer, L. J. (1996) Transient and persistent hypochondriacal worry in primary care. Psychological Medicine, 26, 575–589.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rogers, M. P., Weishenker, N. J., Warshaw, M. G. et al (1996) Prevalence of somatoform disorders in a large sample of patients with anxiety disorders. Psychosomatics, 37, 17–22.Google Scholar
Sharpe, M., Bass, C. & Mayou, R. (1995) An overview of the treatment of somatic symptoms. In Treatment of Functional Somatic Symptoms (eds Mayou, R., Bass, C. & Sharpe, M.) pp. 66–86. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sharpe, M., Hawton, K., Simkin, S. S. et al (1996) Cognitive–behaviour therapy for the chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal, 312, 22–26.Google Scholar
Singh, B., Nunn, K., Martin, J. et al (1981) Abnormal treatment behaviour. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 54, 131–137.Google Scholar
Smith, G. R., Rost, K. & Kashner, T. M. (1995) A trial of the effect of a standardised psychiatric consultation on health outcomes and costs in somatising patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52, 238–243.Google Scholar
Taylor, G. J. (1987) Psychosomatic medicine and contemporary psychoanalysis. Stress and Health Series Monograph 3 (ed. Goldberger, G.) Madison: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Vercoulen, J. H., Swanik, C. M., Zitman, F. G. et al (1996) Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of fluoxetine in chronic fatigue syndrome. Lancet, 347, 858–861.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1992) The Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders (ICD-10). Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Wotton, H. (1642) Upon the death of Sir Albert Morton's wife. In Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett, 14th edn (1968) (ed. Beck, E. M.) p. 300. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.