Body, Mind & Spirit Articles and Latest News

The History, Present State, and Future Prospects of the Asian College of Psychosomatic Medicine (ACPM).

Biopsychosoc Med. 2012 Jan 19;6(1):1

Authors: Ishizu H

Abstract
ABSTRACT: The Asian College of Psychosomatic Medicine (ACPM) was founded as the Asian Chapter of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine (ICPM-AC) in Tokyo on April 12, 1982. The first president was Hitoshi ISHIKAWA (Japan), the vice-presidents were Mahalingam MAHADEVAN (Malaysia) and Burton G.BURTON-BRADLEY (Papua- New Guinea), and the general secretary was Sueharu TSUTSUI (Japan). Five years previously, preparation for creation of the ICPM-AC was started at the 4th World Congress of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine (ICPM) held in Kyoto, Japan, September 5-9, 1977. The First Congress of ICPM-AC was held by the President Y. IKEMI in Tokyo on May 19-20, 1984. The main members in the early stage were Yujiro IKEMI, H. ISHIKAWA, S. TSUTSUI, Taisaku KATSURA, Tetsuya NAKAGAWA and Hiroyuki SUEMATSU from Japan and Hsien RIN (Taiwan), Seock Young KANG (Korea), M. MAHADEVAN and B.G. BURTON-BRADLEY from other Asian countries. Thereafter, academic congresses of the ICPM-AC, the 2nd to the 9th, were held approximately every two years, in Japan, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, and China. The name was changed to the Asian College of Psychosomatic Medicine (ACPM), and the 10th to 14th congresses were held in Taiwan, Okinawa (Japan), Australia, Korea, and China. The current president of the Executive Board of ACPM is Chiharu KUBO, the Director of Kyushu University Hospital. The next academic congress is the 15th ACPM and will be hosted by Tserenkhuugyin LKHAGVASUREN in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from August 24-26, 2012. Participating countries have expanded to include Asaian-Oceanic countries such as Mongolia, Micronecia, Australia and Sri Lanka. The main themes of the congresses have focused on psychosomatic disorders, culture - bound syndromes, oriental medicine, etc.. To date,”Health promotion”by raising the level of mental health based on psychoneuroendocrinoimmunomodulation has been very important. Prevention is also important in the Asia - Oceana area, from the viewpoints of both psychosomatics and culture. Above all, an awareness of existential, authentic health is a sure way to promote healthy longevity and psychosomatic well - being. To pursue happiness and well-being subjectively, objectively, and ecologically will be the most important purposes of ACPM in the future.

PMID: 22260201 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Teaching trainees about the practice of consultation-liaison psychiatry in the general hospital.

Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2011 Sep;34(3):689-707

Authors: Wei MH, Querques J, Stern TA

PMID: 21889687 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Culture, Psychosomatics and Substance Abuse: The Example of Body Image Drugs.

Psychother Psychosom. 2012 Jan 18;81(2):73-78

Authors: Kanayama G, Hudson JI, Pope Jr HG

Abstract
No abstract available.

PMID: 22261875 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Illness behavior.

Adv Psychosom Med. 2012;32:160-81

Authors: Sirri L, Grandi S

Abstract
The term illness behavior was introduced by Mechanic and Volkart to describe the individuals’ different ways to respond to their own health status. Pilowsky’s concept of abnormal illness behavior encompasses several clinical conditions characterized by a maladaptive mode of experiencing, perceiving, evaluating and responding to one’s own health status. The concept of somatization was criticized because it implies the presence of psychological distress or an underlying psychiatric disturbance when an organic cause for somatic symptoms is not found. Thus, more atheoretical terms , such as functional somatic symptoms and medically unexplained symptoms, were introduced. Both Kellner’s Symptom Questionnaire and Derogatis’ Symptom Checklist-90 include a scale for somatic symptoms, and other questionnaires were specifically designed to measure their frequency and severity. Kellner’s Illness Attitude Scales appear to be the gold standard for the measurement of the hypochondriacal spectrum, which includes several clinical conditions, such as nosophobia, thanatophobia and health anxiety. The assessment of illness denial should consider that a certain degree of denial may sometimes prevent patients from overwhelming psychological distress resulting from life-threatening or stigmatized diseases. Denial may concern both physical and psychiatric symptoms. Specific instruments are available for both types of denial. The cognitive and emotional representations developed by subjects when they have to cope with an illness or a perceived health threat are subsumed under the concept of illness perception and may be assessed by the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire.

PMID: 22056904 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Assessment of lifestyle in relation to health.

Adv Psychosom Med. 2012;32:72-96

Authors: Tomba E

Abstract
Habits relevant to health include physical activities, diet, smoking, drinking and drug consumption. Despite the fact that benefits of modifying lifestyle are increasingly demonstrated in clinical and general populations, assessment of lifestyle and therapeutic lifestyle changes is neglected in practice. In this review, associations between unhealthy lifestyle and health outcomes are presented. Particular emphasis will be placed on description and discussion of the standardized assessment instruments and behavioral methods that could be used in clinical practice to measure lifestyles.

PMID: 22056899 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome–a review of the literature.

Z Gastroenterol. 2011 Aug;49(8):997-1003

Authors: Schwille-Kiuntke J, Frick JS, Zanger P, Enck P

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Despite considerable research efforts, the epidemiological characteristics of post-infectious symptoms of the irritable bowel syndrome-type (PI-IBS) are not yet well defined. Estimates of its incidence after gastrointestinal (GI) infection show considerable variation and the number of patients with a history of a GI infection among all patients with IBS is practically unknown. This review aims at summarizing published estimates (i) on the prevalence of PI-IBS among all IBS patients and (ii) on PI-IBS incidence after GI infection, critically discusses methodological differences that may explain the variation of the presented findings and gives an overview on currently identified risk factors for the development of PI-IBS.
METHODS: A systematic literature review was perfomed of studies indexed in PUBMED that assessed the epidemiology and risk factors of PI-IBS.
RESULTS: The reported incidence of PI-IBS ranges for epidemic infections between 7 and 36 %, for individual infections between 4 and 36 % and for traveller’s diarrhea from 4 to 14 %. Estimates of the prevalence of PI-IBS range from as low as 7 % to more than ⅓ of all IBS patients, depending on the study design. The predictors and biomarkers are varying among the studies.
CONCLUSION: PI-IBS appears to be common following infectious enteritis and among all IBS patients, but precise estimates are still lacking.

PMID: 21811952 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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[Inflammatory bowel disease or eating disorder - Interdisciplinary challenges in clinical diagnostics and treatment - Case 1/2012].

Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 2012 Jan;137(4):142

Authors: Muthig M, Becker S, Giel KE, Kortüm C, Kuprion J, Zipfel S, Teufel M

Abstract
History and admission findings: A 33-year-old female patient with chronic anorexia nervosa was admitted for inpatient psychosomatic treatment after a recent severe weight loss. In addition, an inflammatory bowel disease had been suspected in the past 4 years. The patient was convinced that the weight loss had purely organic reasons. She reported frequent diarrhea after meals. Also laxative abuse was suspected because of melanosis coli.Diagnosis: An MR Sellink showed no evidence for actual intestinal inflammation. No increased inflammation parameters were found in blood tests. Diarrhea could not be proved by investigation of excrements or a symptom diary.Treatment and course: Treatment consisted of a multimodal approach with focus on cognitive behavioural therapy. Treatment revealed eating disorder specific cognitions, fears and behaviour. A partial acceptance of gastrointestinal symptoms and weight loss as eating disorder symptomatology could be achieved.Conclusion: Diagnostics and treatment of chronic anorexia nervosa are complicated by a coincidental (or suspected) organic intestinal disease. Gastrointestinal problems are common in eating disorders. Organic symptoms are often difficult to distinguish from psychosomatic symptoms. Somatic fixation complicates treatment of eating disorders.

PMID: 22259169 [PubMed - in process]

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[Unresolved attachment and remembered childhood trauma in patients undergoing psychosomatic inpatient treatment.]

Z Psychosom Med Psychother. 2011;57(4):325-342

Authors: Subic-Wrana C, Beetz A, Wiltink J, Beutel ME

Abstract
Objective: Clinical populations are characterised by a high level of childhood trauma and unresolved attachment status (”U”). Unresolved attachment status indicates the inability to integrate attachment-related dangers. Little is known about the interaction of traumatic childhood experiences and an unresolved attachment status. Method: We administered the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) to 45 newly admitted psychosomatic inpatients. Childhood trauma (CTQ) and distress were assessed by self-report questionnaires, and cognitive-emotional development was evaluated with the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS).We explored whether unresolved (U) and resolved (R) attachment status differentiated the sample with regard to childhood trauma, distress and cognitive-emotional development. Results: 53 % of the sample was characterized by the attachment status U; physical abuse and neglect as well as emotional neglect were correlated with a diminished ability to integrate trauma indicators in the AAP. A resolved attachment status was related to higher LEAS scores. Conclusion: The level of cognitive-emotional development may mediate the actual integration of attachment-related dangers and the interaction between actual attachment-related anxiety and past traumatic experiences.

PMID: 22258908 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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General and specialized medicine and psychiatry.

Adv Psychosom Med. 2012;32:VII

Authors: Fava GA, Sonino N, Wise TN

PMID: 22141185 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Heart rate variability in the irritable bowel syndrome: a review of the literature.

Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2012 Jan 19;

Authors: Mazurak N, Seredyuk N, Sauer H, Teufel M, Enck P

Abstract
Background  Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often present with disturbances of bowel habits (diarrhea, constipation) and abdominal pain/discomfort that are modulated by the autonomic nerve system (ANS). In this narrative review, we analyzed studies that measured ANS functioning in IBS by means of heart rate variability (HRV). Methods  The PUBMED was searched with the keywords ‘irritable bowel syndrome’ AND (’heart rate variability’ OR ‘autonomic function’). We included only papers that used ‘traditional’ HRV indices and diagnosed IBS based on Manning or Rome criteria. Studies were sub-grouped according to methodological features of HRV analysis (24-h monitoring, short-term laboratory records, records during sleep). Key Results  Most studies reported no difference in HRV when the IBS population was compared to healthy controls. Dividing the IBS sample into subgroups - according to their predominant bowel symptoms, the severity of clinical course, the presence of depressive symptoms, or a history of abuse in the past - revealed changes in autonomic functioning. Conclusions & Inferences  Patients with IBS appear to experience symptoms that may be the result of changes in ANS functioning. HRV measures in clinical routine may allow assessing these changes, but further studies performed in a standardized fashion should improve the validity of HRV measures for clinical research first.

PMID: 22256893 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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