Somatoform Disorders A Worldwide Perspective

Medically unexplained somatic symptoms are problematic in psychiatry, primary care settings, and other clinical areas. The burden they impose on health-care systems constitutes a significant public health problem. At the international symposium "Rethinking Somatoform Disorders," this problem was addressed by specialists working in somatoform disorders, psychiatric nosology, epidemiology, and biological and cross-cultural psychiatry. The meeting was the third of the Keio University International Symposia for Life Sciences and Medicine, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the World Psychiatric Association.

1 Understanding the Concept of Somatoform Disorders.- The Concept of Somatoform Disorders: A Comment on the Mind-Body Problem in Psychiatry.- The Classification of Somatoform Disorders in ICD-10.- The Differential Diagnosis of Somatoform Disorders.- European Concepts.- Somatoform Disorders-An Arab Perspective.- Classification of Somatoform Disorders in Japan.- Somatization in the Elderly.- Somatic Symptoms in Children from Three Ethnic Groups.- Hypochondriasis.- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.- Biological Markers of Fibromyalgia.- 2 Studies on Somatoform Disorders in Different. Cultures.- WHO International Study of Somatoform Disorders: an Overview of Methods and Preliminary Results.- Help-Seeking Behavior Across Different Age and Culture Groups.- The Influence of Depression and Anxiety on the Course of Somatization in Primary Case.- Somatization in Different Cultures (I). Taijin Kyofusho as One Aspect of Somatoform Disorders in Japan.- Culture and Illness—Clinical Presentation and Management of Somatoform Disorders in Cambodia.- Post-Traumatic Somatic and Psychological Problems.- Somatoform Disorders in China.- Preliminary Research on the Clinical Features of Somatoform Disorders in Three General Hospitals.- Neurasthenia: Transpacific Comparisons.- Somatization in Papua New Guinea.- Somatization in Thailand.- Somatization in Field Studies.- 3 Management and Economic Aspects of Somatoform Disorders.- Psychotherapy of Somatoform Disorders.- The Psychological Treatment of Somatoform Disorders.- Schematic Understanding of the Worried Patient with Somatoform Disorder.- Problems in Pharmacologic Management of Somatoform Disorders.- Approach to the Treatment of Somatoform Disorders in General Practice.- Approaches to the Treatment of Somatoform Disorders in Liaison Psychiatry.-Approaches to the Treatment of Somatoform Disorders in Internal Medicine.- The Use of Japanese Herbal Medicine in the Treatment of Somatoform Disorders.- Therapeutic Effects of Acupuncture Combined with Psychotherapy for Patients with Somatoform Disorders.- The Economic Burden of Somatoform Disorders.- Economic Aspects of Somatoform Disorders in Japan.- 4 Summary and Outlook.- Rhetorics of the Body: Medically Unexplained Symptoms in Sociocultural Perspective.- Key Word Index.