Sometimes described as "the nemesis of the primary care physician," somatoform disorders are frustrating, expensive to treat, and under-investigated. Somatic Presentations of Mental Disorders provides a fascinating and practical review of the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of this ill-defined category of disease. Somatic Presentations of Mental Disorders summarizes the proceedings of a unique international conference that convened experts from across disciplines to review perspectives on somatoform disorders. The broad range of experience and specialization results in a compendium that addresses both theoretical and practical issues presented in somatoform disorders. For the researcher, the book offers a thorough and critical overview of the research landscape, surveying and synthesizing the available literature from around the world on all aspects of the disorder. Acknowledging the unique challenges presented in studying such a heterogeneous collection of disorders, the authors identify specific gaps in the research literature. Somatic Presentations of Mental Disorders also addresses controversial issues of nosology in advance of the publication of DSM-V.

ContributorsDisclosure StatementForewordEvolution of psychosomatic diagnosis in DSMIntroductionChapter 1. Epidemiology of the association between somatoform disorders and anxiety and depressive disordersChapter 2. The association or otherwise of the functional somatic syndromesChapter 3. Cultural models and somatic syndromesChapter 4. Influence of cultural and social factors on the epidemiology of idiopathic somatic complaints and syndromesChapter 5. Are somatoform disorders changing with time?Chapter 6. A biological substrate for somatoform disordersChapter 7. Somatoform and substance use disordersChapter 8. Stability of somatoform symptomsChapter 9. What is the evidence for the efficacy of treatments for somatoform disorders?Chapter 10. Are treatments for common mental disorders also effective for functional symptoms and disorder?Chapter 11. Efficacy of treatment of somatoform disordersChapter 12. The evidence for treatments for somatoform disordersIndex