Patient-Centered Medicine: A Necessary Condition for the Management of Functional Somatic Syndromes and Bodily Distress.

ABSTRACT: This paper argues that "functional," "medically unexplained," or "somatoform" symptoms and disorders necessarily require a patient-centered approach from the clinicians. In the first part, I address the multiple causes of the patients' suffering and I analyze the unease of the doctors faced with these disorders. I emphasize the iatrogenic role of medical investigations and the frequent failure in attempting to reassure the patients. I stress the difficulties in finding the right terms and concepts, despite overabundant nosological categories, to give a full account of psychosomatic complexity. Finally, I discuss the moral dimension attached to assigning a symptom, at times arbitrarily, to a psychogenic origin. The following part presents a brief reminder of the patient-centered approach (P

SUBMITTER: Cathebras P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8110699 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature