Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Medically unexplained functional or somatization symptoms are somatic disorders that are not adequately explained by physical disease processes. The way in which these disorders have been understood and managed has varied over the history of medicine. However, only in the past 100 years has the "mental" explanation predominated. A benefit of this trend has been the development of effective treatments in the form of "antidepressant" drugs and cognitive-behavioral therapies; a cost has been limited integration of these treatments into medical practice and lack of acceptability to patients. We suggest that there is much to learn from physicians of the pre-Freudian era. Their etiologic theories are now supported by new scientific evidence, and their clinical practice provided ways of making psychological treatment acceptable to patients. We propose a paradigm shift in which unexplained symptoms are remedicalized around the notion of a functional disturbance of the nervous system and treatments currently considered "psychiatric" are integrated into general medical care. (C) 2001 American College of Physicians

Type

Journal article

Journal

Ann.Intern.Med.

Publication Date

01/05/2001

Volume

134

Pages

926 - 930

Keywords

FSS, history