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Somatoform Disorders pp 3–10Cite as

The Concept of Somatoform Disorders: A Comment on the Mind-Body Problem in Psychiatry

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Part of the book series: Keio University Symposia for Life Science and Medicine ((KEIO,volume 3))

Summary

Notwithstanding claims to the contrary, both DSM-IV and ICD-10 are based on theoretical concepts about mind and body and the nature of their connectedness that originate in 19th century psychology and philosophy. The description and delineation of somatoform disorders and related conditions such as dissociation, conversion and dysmorphophobia is predicated on implicit psychophysical dualism which persists today in the DSM-IV and ICD-10 definition of somatisation/somatoform disorders. This essentially “negative” definition (i.e. a definition relying primarily on the lack of a medical explanation of the patient’s symptoms) fails to take into account the fact that somatoform symptoms represent a small segment within the large area of psychopathology reflecting abnormal phenomena of body awareness. A scientific “phenomenology of the body”, especially if coupled with research into underlying neurocognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms, may eventually render concepts such as somatisation and somatoform disorders obsolete.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Australia, MRF Building, 50 Murray Street, Perth, 6000, Australia

    Assen Jablensky

Authors
  1. Assen Jablensky
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, 160-8582, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Yutaka Ono M.D. (Assistant Professor) & Masahiro Asai M.D. (Professor and Chairman) (Assistant Professor) &  (Professor and Chairman)

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, Medical Research Foundation Building, Royal Perth Hospital, 50 Murray Street, WA, 6000, Perth, Australia

    Aleksandar Janca M.D. (Associate Professor) (Associate Professor)

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, 1201, Geneva, Switzerland

    Norman Sartorius M.D. (Professor) (Professor)

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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Tokyo

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Jablensky, A. (1999). The Concept of Somatoform Disorders: A Comment on the Mind-Body Problem in Psychiatry. In: Ono, Y., Janca, A., Asai, M., Sartorius, N. (eds) Somatoform Disorders. Keio University Symposia for Life Science and Medicine, vol 3. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68500-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68500-5_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-68502-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-68500-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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