The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization: When Symptom Becomes Disease
The authors tackle the complexity of somatization head on. Neuroplasticity, ego psychology, existential psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology are all given their due. Treatment recommendations are useful and solid. (Brown, Walter A. M.D)This is a much needed book on a long neglected topic. Somatization is a problem that has been well-described but poorly understood for many years. The book is illuminating. Jonathan Cole’s contribution, probably the last words he wrote for publication in his long life, is classic Cole: wise yet playful, cautious yet ready to take action, acknowledging uncertainty yet offering hope. It is so typical of him that his last statement in clinical psychopharmacology, a field he had founded 50 years before with a handful of others, was a thoughtful, provocative, nicely researched little essay concerning an area that few had thought about and about which only a little was known. (J. Alexander Bodkin, MD)Somatization is an underappreciated aspect of medical care. This book addresses the need to weave the science and the art of medicine into a whole. Individuals are a complexity of physiologic and emotional interactions influenced by cultural expectations, societal norms, personal experiences, and spiritual orientation. The authors recognize this truth. This book challenges us to examine professional objectiveness and scientific certainty while remembering that there is a person within the patient that presents to the clinician. (Bruce P. Bates, DO)