Expands and refines the psychosomatic approach in clinical practice Psychosomatic medicine has developed methods to increase diagnostic accuracy and improve targeted therapeutic approaches in all fields of medicine. In this context, clinimetrics, the science of clinical measurements, provides unprecedented opportunities for psychosomatic assessment. This volume illustrates how this approach can be translated into everyday practice complementing and improving the medical interview. The most sensitive and reliable clinical methods are presented for evaluating specific psychosocial aspects of disease, i.e. childhood adversities, life events and chronic stress, lifestyle, sexual function, subclinical and affective disturbances, personality, illness behavior, well-being and family dynamics. Each chapter provides practical illustrations as to how crucial information can be obtained with specific methods individualized according to the patients' needs. A hyperlink is provided to a website that contains many of the instruments assessed in the volume. This book enables the reader to understand the value of the psychosomatic approach in clinical practice. It is intended to expand and refine the skills of clinicians who work in general and specialized medicine and psychiatry, whether physicians, psychologists or other health professionals.

This book explores the life and theories of Michael Balint, who kept alive Ferenczi's analytic traditions in Budapest and brought them to London, where they became a vital part of the Independent Group's theory and practice. Balint's theoretical understanding of regression, 'new beginnings', 'basic fault', as well as his profound impact on medicine, are all described. The work in the Balint groups by general practitioners, psychiatrists, and physicians are explored. Whole person and psychosomatic medicine, championed by Balint, is contrasted with today's more compartmentalised approach to medicine, including the increasing separation of the GP from the family. In the second part of the book Dr Sklar reflects on the complex tasks involved in psychodynamic assessment. Vignettes illustrate the importance of understanding the forces in family dynamics, the value of an early memory and a dream, and the sexual life of the patient. The author argues that Balint's ideas are of particular significance to us today, in our world of quick fixes and the overspecialisation of medicine.

The interplay between mind and body is a rapidly developing area of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, growing in prominence as many areas of medicine recognise the importance of understanding the physical, mental, and social aspects of complex conditions. Clinical Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology: A Patient-Centred Biopsychosocial Approach is the fundamental work facilitating the management of women's disease conditions resulting from psychosomatic or mind-body interactions routinely encountered by clinicians. Authored by a world-renowned group of contributors who have led a transformative approach to the way services to women are approached, Clinical Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology comprehensively addresses the biological, psychological, social and cultural factors leading to disease manifestations. Including methods for prevention, detection and treatment, the text is supported by thirty case studies taken from real-life situations to support learning and guide clinical practice. Detailed chapters expound the scientific basis of the clinical psychosomatic concept, prevention of morbidity and mortality from cancer or obesity, pregnancy and childbirth, maternal dysphoria and child neurodevelopment, pain perception, infertility, premenstrual disorders, psycho-oncology, malignancy and sexual health, illnesses in migrants and refugees, alongside, pertinent cultural issues. This title is a highly topical and much needed guide to addressing clinical conditions that compromise women's health, including that of teenagers, as well as their mental and social well-being.

This authoritative reference surveys mind-body healing concepts and psychosomatic medicine in diverse countries and regions of the world. It provides practical insights on the Western division between medical and mental healing and useful information concerning recent efforts to bridge that enduring divide, particularly in the use of ancient and indigenous healing knowledge in psychosomatic practice. Coverage compares and contrasts current applications of psychosomatic medicine and/or consultation-liaison psychiatry as conducted in such representative countries as France, Britain, China, India, Argentina, Canada, and the United States. And the book predicts how this synthesis of traditions and advances will progress as it: Traces the history and development of psychosomatic medicine. Reviews contributions of traditional healing methods to psychosomatic medicine. Analyzes national styles of psychosomatic medicine as practiced in specific countries. Compares the status of psychosomatic medicine / consultation-liaison psychiatry in various countries. Considers the future of psychosomatic medicine as the field, and the world, evolves. Global Psychosomatic Medicine and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry expands the knowledge base for psychiatrists, primary care physicians, psychiatric and primary care residents, medical students, behavioral medicine specialists, and others who are interested global and regional perspective on providing biopsychosocial care. It is also relevant for advanced students in health psychology and behavioral medicine, and for professionals in related health fields.

This book, with contributions emanating from the 21st World Congress of Psychosomatic Medicine held in Seoul in August 2011, presents the latest evidence-based information about the mechanisms, assessment, and management of psychosomatic disorders from a biopsychosociocultural perspective. Somatization is a process characterized by excessive or inappropriate focus on physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. It is highly prevalent in primary care medicine, as somatoform (psychosomatic) disorders tend to be chronic and can cause significant personal suffering and social problems as well as financial burden.​ ​

This unique book synthesizes the work of leading thinkers of the French School of psychoanalytical projective methods in personality assessment. The French School is a direct successor to Rorschach's and Murray's original approaches using the Rorschach Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Underlying this method is the idea of the coexistence of conscious and unconscious processes, of opposite instinctual pairs, and of agents that are ruled by conflicts (Freud). Transitional activity is seen as part of an intermediate space, a mediator space, and bearer of messages between the subject and the clinician (Winnicott). This book brings to life the important contributions of the French School, firstly exploring its theories and methods and then its clinical applications. Detailed case studies from different stages of life examine the psychopathology of everyday life with its severe and disabling states of suffering. Contemporary advances in research and clinical work are presented, and the groundbreaking early work of Nina Rausch de Traubenberg, Vica Shentoub, and Rosine Debray are also critically reread and discussed. Clinical tools adapted for clinicians and researchers in the appendices include a useful schema to facilitate the interpretation of the Rorschach and TAT together, a list of latent solicitations for the TAT, and the current version of the TAT Scoring Grid. This book is essential reading for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, researchers, and students interested in applying psychoanalytical theory to projective methods.

Stress: Concepts, Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior: Handbook in Stress Series, Volume 1, examines stress and its management in the workplace and is targeted at scientific and clinical researchers in biomedicine, psychology, and some aspects of the social sciences. The audience is appropriate faculty and graduate and undergraduate students interested in stress and its consequences. The format allows access to specific self-contained stress subsections without the need to purchase the whole nine volume Stress handbook series. This makes the publication much more affordable than the previously published four volume Encyclopedia of Stress (Elsevier 2007) in which stress subsections were arranged alphabetically and therefore required purchase of the whole work. This feature will be of special significance for individual scientists and clinicians, as well as laboratories. In this first volume of the series, the primary focus will be on general stress concepts as well as the areas of cognition, emotion, and behavior. - Offers chapters with impressive scope, covering topics including the interactions between stress, cognition, emotion and behaviour - Features articles carefully selected by eminent stress researchers and prepared by contributors representing outstanding scholarship in the field - Includes rich illustrations with explanatory figures and tables - Includes boxed call out sections that serve to explain key concepts and methods - Allows access to specific self-contained stress subsections without the need to purchase the whole nine volume Stress handbook series

In DSM-IV, the relationships between physical illness and psychological factors are grouped under the classifications 'Somatoform Disorders' and 'Psychological Factors Affecting Medical Conditions'(PFAMC). This volume introduces the 'Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research' (DCPR) as a new proposal for the PFAMC section of DSM-V. The DCPR approach focuses on psychological characteristics of patients presenting symptoms across different medical disorders related to the clinically relevant psychosocial constructs of abnormal illness behavior, i.e. somatization, demoralization, type A behavior, alexithymia, conversion, and irritability. The distinct DCPR categories are consistent with concepts expressed by outstanding authors in psychosomatic medicine and are therefore suggested as specifiers of PFAMC for the future DSM-V. The volume includes updates, reviews and empirical findings on psychological factors affecting various disorders in different clinical settings (endocrinology, gastroenterology, oncology, dermatology, eating disorders, consultation psychiatry). It is essential reading for psychiatrists, psychologists and physicians interested in psychosomatic medicine, and provides the basic tools for the diagnosis of DCPR conditions.

Psychosomatic diagnostics and therapy are of increasing importance in the acute treatment, prevention and rehabilitation of cardiovascular diseases. The connection between heart disease and the psyche as well as the psychosocial concomitant symptoms is well documented. Contents: • Basics of cardiology and psychosomatic medicine; • Doctor-patient relationship; • Ethical issues, gender effects, psychocardiology along the lifespan; • Psychosomatic problem areas and comorbidities in coronary heart disease: Personality factors, risk behaviours, depression, anxiety disorders; • Specific problems in other cardiovascular diseases and treatment settings; • Diagnostics; • Interdisciplinary cooperation, treatment and rehabilitation; • Training courses in psychocardiology. The book offers cardiologists, internists, general practitioners, psychotherapists and psychologists all practice-relevant basics to be able to treat their patients in the best possible way. It is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book may read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.