Psychosomatic medicine: alive and well in the new century

Giovanni A. Fava, Stefania Fabbri, Carlotta Belaise, Eliana Tossani

Psychosomatic medicine provides a comprehensive framework for a holistic (biopsychosocial) consideration of patient care encompassing the role of psychosocial factors in affecting individual vulnerability to all types of diseases; the interaction between psychosocial and biological factors in the course and outcome of disease and the application of psychological therapies to the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of physical illness.

This framework, modified from the one originally proposed by Lipowski, will serve to highlight the areas where a psychosomatic integration may have important clinical and research implications. The same holistic mentality should also be applicable to the field of psychiatry. In recent years, a new way of integrating pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy in depression has been proposed (i.e. sequential approach), but, not surprisingly, non pharmacological treatment strategies have been swimming against the tide of pharmaceutical propaganda.

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