Engaging patients with “medically unexplained symptoms” in psychological therapy: An integrative and transdiagnostic approach

ConclusionsThe model shows that it is critical for therapists to collaborate closely with GPs to engage these patients while also highlighting barriers to doing this, reflecting the complexities of organizational and cultural change. Clinically, the model illustrates the importance of adopting a flexible, pluralistic, and integrative approach that is person ‐centred and process‐led. Doctors and therapists should embrace a holistic, biopsychosocial stance towards MUS and be sensitively attuned to its complex phenomenology.Practitioner points To engage patients with MUS psychological therapists should be person ‐centred and process‐led rather than theory‐ or protocol‐led. A pluralistic and integrative mindset facilitates this by enhancing clinicians’ flexibility. A multidisciplinary approach is essential. Clinicians should embrace a biopsychosocial stance towards MUS and work closely with medica l colleagues to help them do the same. Structural and cultural change is needed to tackle this issue effectively.
Source: Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Qualitative paper Source Type: research