Psychosomatic Disorders: Basic Issues and Future Research Directions

Abstract

This chapter briefly reviews the history of how psychosomatic disorders have been conceptualized over the years, as well as some of the major traditional categories of these disorders. Psychophysiological disorders, traditionally called psychosomatic illnesses, are characterized by physical symptoms or dysfunction in various organs of the body that are intimately linked with psychological factors. The close interplay of psychological and physiological processes involved in these disorders makes their diagnosis and treatment particularly difficult. In many disorders, the distinction between psychosomatic and nonpsychosomatic disorders is difficult to make. The relationship between the mind and the body has long been a controversial topic among philosophers, physiologists, and psychologists. Until recently, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association recognized the existence of psychogenic illness but separated such disorders and implied that only certain ailments could have psychological causes.