Psychosocial problems appear within a medical context worldwide, and are a major burden to health. Psychosomatic Medicine: An International Primer for the Primary Care Setting takes a uniquely global approach in laying the foundations of bio psychosocial basic care (such as recognizing psychosocial and psychosomatic problems, basic counseling and collaboration with mental health specialists) and provides relevant information about the most common mental and psychosomatic problems and disorders. The scope of the book is intercultural-it addresses global cultures, subcultures living in a single country and strengthening the care given by physicians working abroad. This clinically useful book outlines best practices for diagnosing the most common bio psychosocial problems and mastering the most common communication challenges (e.g. doctor-patient conversation, breaking bad news, dealing with difficult patients, family and health systems communication and collaboration). Every chapter integrates basic theoretical background and practical skills and includes trans-culturally sensitive material, important for work with patients from different cultures. Psychosomatic Medicine: An International Primer for the Primary Care Setting serves as an excellent resource for clinicians hoping to gain and develop knowledge and skills in psychosomatic medicine.

Now in its fully revised and expanded second edition, this volume is the definitive global resource on psychosocial problems. Containing several new chapters and featuring extensively updated contributions from experts in the field, this title takes a uniquely global approach in laying the foundations of bio psychosocial basic care and provides relevant information about the most common mental and psychosomatic problems and disorders. An extension of the cultural aspects of the individual clinical pictures and new contributions from China, Latin America, Russia, Iran, India, Africa and Myanmar, also about migration and mental health accompany this revision. This book is divided into four sections and begins by explaining the relationship between psychosomatic medicine and primary care. The next part outlines the best practices for diagnosing the most common biopsychosocial problems and mastering the most frequent communication challenges (e.g. biopsychosocial anamnesis, breaking bad news, dealing with difficult patients, family and health systems communication and collaboration). The following section delves into more specific psychosomatic problems such as depressive disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, addiction, the terminally ill patient and eating disorders, among others. The final section focuses on developing psychosomatic medicine in international settings. Every chapter integrates basic theoretical background and practical skills and includes trans-culturally sensitive material, important for work with patients from different nations. Psychosomatic Medicine: An International Primer for the Primary Care Setting, second edition is a must-have reference for doctors from various specialties as well as nursing staff, social workers and clinical health psychologists.

For thousands of years, Western culture has dichotomized science and art, empiricism and subjective experience, and biology and psychology. In contrast with the prevailing view in philosophy, neuroscience, and literary criticism, George Engel, an internist and practicing physician, published a paper in the journal Science in 1977 entitled "The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine." In the context of clinical medicine, Engel made the deceptively simple observation that actions at the biological, psychological, and social level are dynamically interrelated and that these relationships affect both the process and outcomes of care. The biopsychosocial perspective involves an appreciation that disease and illness do not manifest themselves only in terms of pathophysiology, but also may simultaneously affect many different levels of functioning, from cellular to organ system to person to family to society. This model provides a broader understanding of disease processes as encompassing multiple levels of functioning including the effect of the physician-patient relationship. This book, which contains Engel's seminal article, looks at the continuing relevance of his work and the biopsychosocial model as it is applied to clinical practice, research, and education and administration. Contributors include: Thomas Inui, Richard Frankel, Timothy Quill, Susan McDaniel, Ronald Epstein, Peter Leroux, Diane Morse, Anthony Suchman, Geoffrey Williams, Frank Degruy, Robert Ader, Thomas CampbelL, Edward DecI, Moira Stewart, Elaine Dannefer, Edward Hundert, Lindsey Henson, Robert Smith, Kurt Fritzsche, Manfred Cierpka, Michael Wirsching, Howard Beckman, and Theodore Brown.