Psychosomatic medicine in the 21st century: understanding mechanisms and barriers to utilization.
Abstract
The psychosomatic approach arose in antiquity as mankind looked for explanations for illness and death. With the rise of modern medicine, the links between emotions and medical conditions, such as cardiac disease and diabetes, were described by astute clinical observers, but the mechanisms for these conditions were based on correlation from observations rather than on experimental design. Psychoanalytic theory was often utilized to explain many common diseases. For example, peptic ulcer disease was blamed upon anger and stress, but scientific methodology discovered Helicobacter pylori to be the si...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Wise TN, Balon R Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Communication with patients suffering from serious physical illness.
Abstract
Communication is the corner stone of the relationship with the patient in all medical settings with the main aims of creating a good inter-personal relationship, exchanging information, and making treatment-related decisions. In a rapidly changing cultural and social context, the paternalistic approach of doctors knowing the best and deciding what should be done for a patient has been replaced by a shared decision-making approach, with patients being advised to educate themselves, ask questions and influence the course of the discussion with their doctors. Thus, a need for an improvement in the co...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Grassi L, Caruso R, Costantini A Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Dimensional psychopharmacology in somatising patients.
Abstract
Despite the recent DSM-5 review of somatoform disorders, which are now called somatic symptom and related disorders, the categorical definitions of these syndromes have inherent limitations because their causal mechanism or presumed aetiologies are still unknown. These limitations may affect everyday clinical practice and decision-making abilities. As a result, physicians have limited information at their disposal to treat these patients. Furthermore, the clinical presentations of somatic disorders may vary a lot. The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate a psychopathological dimensional approa...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Biondi M, Pasquini M Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Forensic Issues in Medical Evaluation: Competency and End-of-Life Issues.
Abstract
Decision-making capacity is a common reason for psychiatric consultation that is likely to become more common as the population ages. Capacity assessments are frequently compromised by misconceptions, such as the belief that incapacity is permanent or that patients with dementia categorically lack capacity. This chapter will review the conceptual framework of decision-making capacity and discuss its application to medical decision-making. We will review selected developments in capacity assessment and recommend an approach to assessing decision-making capacity. We will discuss the unique challenge...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Soliman S, Hall RC Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Then and Now … HIV Consultation Psychiatry Update.
Abstract
Over the last 2 decades, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) illness has transformed to a chronic disease model. However, challenges, including the effects of co-morbid illnesses and the challenge of preventing future spread of the disease, continue to confront those infected with HIV. Addictions remain an important problem and a serious contributor to overall morbidity and mortality in this population. This book chapter seeks to illustrate the new developments in the treatment of these addictions as well as provide an overview of the medical updates regarding HIV and hepatitis C virus exposure pro...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Goforth HW, Bader M, Fernandez F Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue: the underlying biology and related theoretical issues.
Abstract
There is an increasing interest in understanding the biological mechanism underpinning fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Despite the presence of mixed findings in this area, a few biological systems have been consistently involved, and the increasing number of studies in the field is encouraging. This chapter will focus on inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways and on the neuroendocrine system, which have been more commonly examined. Chronic inflammation, together with raised levels of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, has been increasingly associated with the...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Romano GF, Tomassi S, Russell A, Mondelli V, Pariante CM Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome: management issues.
Abstract
Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome represent two of the most commonly encountered functional somatic syndromes in clinical practice. Both have been contentious diagnoses in the past, and this diagnostic dispute has resulted in a therapeutic nihilism that has been of great detriment to their management and to alleviation of the intense suffering and disability that they have caused their innumerable sufferers. A new age has dawned in terms of a better understanding of these syndromes' physiology and improved approaches to their management. Here, the diagnosis and management of these closely ...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Bourke J Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Telomeres, early-life stress and mental illness.
Abstract
Telomeres are structures of tandem TTAGGG repeats that are found at the ends of chromosomes and preserve genomic DNA by serving as a disposable buffer to protect DNA termini during chromosome replication. In this process, the telomere itself shortens with each cell division and can consequently be thought of as a cellular 'clock', reflecting the age of a cell and the time until senescence. Telomere shortening and changes in the levels of telomerase, the enzyme that maintains telomeres, occur in the context of certain somatic diseases and in response to selected physical stressors. Emerging evidenc...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Ridout SJ, Ridout KK, Kao HT, Carpenter LL, Philip NS, Tyrka AR, Price LH Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Coping with losses, grief, and mourning in prostate cancer.
Abstract
Prostate cancer is a highly prevalent disease with a high likelihood of survival. If treated, survivors live with significant and lasting treatment-related side effects. Surgical treatment is associated with urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, and radiation leads to urinary and bowel irritability as well as erectile dysfunction. Patients who undergo hormonal treatment cope with sexual dysfunction, bone density loss, hot flashes, mood symptoms, and cardiac and metabolic disorders. Functional losses have a significant impact on patients and their partners' quality of life and are associat...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Wittmann D Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Psychodermatology.
Abstract
Psychodermatology is an underappreciated field that studies psychocutaneous disorders, which are conditions that have both dermatologic and psychiatric characteristics. Underlying psychiatric comorbidity is estimated to occur in up to one-third of dermatologic patients, and psychiatric illness may either be the cause or the consequence of dermatologic disease. Psychodermatologic patients lack insight and often do not recognize a psychiatric etiology for their symptoms and therefore comprise some of the most challenging cases to treat. Herein, we discuss the background and clinical presentation of ...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Brown GE, Malakouti M, Sorenson E, Gupta R, Koo JY Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Huntington's Disease: Looking Beyond the Movement Disorder.
Abstract
Although Huntington's disease is classically considered a motor disease, psychiatric, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms are often presenting signs of illness. Even in isolation, these comorbidities can lead to impairment in function and significant distress for patients and their families. Intended for treating psychiatrists, this review discusses the clinical presentation and treatment of Huntington's disease. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.
PMID: 25832519 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine)
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Morreale MK Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Joint hypermobility, anxiety and psychosomatics: two and a half decades of progress toward a new phenotype.
Abstract
The strong association between a heritable collagen condition and anxiety was an unexpected finding that we first described in 1988 at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona. Since then, several clinical and nonclinical studies have been carried out. In this paper, after summarizing the concept and diagnosis of joint hypermobility (hyperlaxity), we review case-control studies in both directions (anxiety in joint hypermobility and joint hypermobility in anxiety disorders) as well as studies on nonclinical samples, review papers and one incidence study. The collected evidence tends to confirm the strengt...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Bulbena A, Pailhez G, Bulbena-Cabré A, Mallorquí-Bagué N, Baeza-Velasco C Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Author index.
Authors:
PMID: 25832521 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine)
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - April 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Cultural psychiatry: a general perspective.
Abstract
The current scene in the field of cultural psychiatry shows a vigorous growth, multifaceted conceptual and research developments and more relevant clinical presence. After a pertinent definition of the discipline, this chapter examines the contribution of cultural psychiatry to the etiopathogenesis of mental disorders, to the variations of clinical presentations in numerous entities, to psychiatric diagnosis and treatment and to the relatively unexplored rubric of preventive psychiatry. Advanced concepts of neurosciences and technology-based research can find a place in the realm of biocultural co...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - July 4, 2013 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Alarcón RD Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
Culture and psychiatric diagnosis.
Abstract
Since the publication of DSM-IV in 1994, neurobiologists and anthropologists have criticized the rigidity of its diagnostic criteria that appear to exclude whole classes of alternate illness presentations, as well as the lack of attention in contemporary psychiatric nosology to the role of contextual factors in the emergence and characteristics of psychopathology. Experts in culture and mental health have responded to these criticisms by revising the very process of diagnosis for DSM-5. Specifically, the DSM-5 Cultural Issues Subgroup has recommended that concepts of culture be included more promi...
Source: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine - July 4, 2013 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Lewis-Fernández R, Krishan Aggarwal N Tags: Adv Psychosom Med Source Type: research
