The Mind-body Interface in Somatization

Download or read book The Mind-body Interface in Somatization written by Wallace Lynn Smith and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization: When Symptom Becomes Disease represents a unique contribution to the clinician's tool chest for diagnosing and treating psychosomatic illness. Beginning with a discussion of contemporary disease classification, the authors clarify matters greatly by talking in terms of chronic and situational somatization, showing that chronic patients use illness as a way of life while situational patients somatically respond to existential crises, and revealing how both are rooted in the mind-body interface. Drawing on elements of personality theory, the authors discuss the core conflicts and character structure inherent in both types of somatization and suggest treatment options appropriately geared toward the needs of each. Book jacket.