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The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization: When Symptom Becomes Disease represents a unique contribution to the clinician's tool chest for diagnosing and treating psychosomatic illness. This book breaks new ground by asking and answering many of the key questions that trouble every practicing clinician: Why do patients use somatization? Can we predict who will be a somatizer? Is there an underlying process involved? Why are these patients so difficult to treat? Beginning with a discussion of contemporary disease classification, The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization clarifies matters greatly by talking in terms of chronic and situational somatization, showing that chronic patients use illness as a way of life, while situational patients somatically respond to existential crises, and revealing how both are rooted in the mind-body interface. Drawing on elements of personality theory, the authors discuss the core conflicts and character structure inherent in both types of somatization and suggest treatment options appropriately geared toward the needs of each. The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization describes how chronic somatization can be addressed by cognitive-behavioral therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, while situational somatization can be managed with short-term existential psychotherapy. Concluding with a discussion of medications that may be helpful to the somatizing patient, this volume represents an original approach to explaining what goes on in the mind of the somatizer.

This lucidly written guide presents an innovative approach for treating somatization disorder and related problems, such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic fatigue syndrome. The authors'program integrates cognitive-behavioral techniques with strategies to build emotional self-awareness and interventions to help patients understand and alter their illness behavior. Systematic yet flexible, it is supported by controlled clinical research. The book reviews the conceptual underpinnings of the approach, discusses its ongoing testing and refinement, and offers clear-cut guidelines for assessment and treatment. Special features include illustrative case material, many pointers for practice, and reproducible appendices that provide a 10-session mini-manual and helpful handouts and forms.