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Current Psychiatry Reports
Published in: Current Psychiatry Reports 3/2010

01-06-2010

Psychosomatic Medicine is a Comprehensive Field, Not a Synonym for Consultation Liaison Psychiatry

Authors: Giovanni Andrea Fava, Carlotta Belaise, Nicoletta Sonino

Published in: Current Psychiatry Reports | Issue 3/2010

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Abstract

There is controversy surrounding the term psychosomatic. If it is used as an equivalent of consultation liaison psychiatry, there is little justification for retaining it. Psychosomatic medicine, however, may be defined as a comprehensive interdisciplinary framework for the assessment of psychosocial factors affecting individual vulnerability, course, and outcome of any type of disease; holistic consideration of patient care in clinical practice; and integration of psychological therapies in the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of medical disease. Psychosomatic medicine has developed several clinimetric tools for assessing psychosocial variables in the setting of medical disease and has raised the need for specific evaluations in medical assessment. The term psychosomatic medicine today seems to be more timely than ever and provides a home for innovative and integrative thinking at the interface of behavioral and medical sciences.
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Metadata
Title
Psychosomatic Medicine is a Comprehensive Field, Not a Synonym for Consultation Liaison Psychiatry
Authors
Giovanni Andrea Fava
Carlotta Belaise
Nicoletta Sonino
Publication date
01-06-2010
Publisher
Current Science Inc.
Published in
Current Psychiatry Reports / Issue 3/2010
Print ISSN: 1523-3812
Electronic ISSN: 1535-1645
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-010-0112-z

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