Functional disorders and ‘medically unexplained physical symptoms’

Functional disorders (FDs) are physical symptoms that trigger the sufferer to seek healthcare, but which remain unexplained after appropriate medical assessment. They are very common and cause significant distress and disability. Relevant aetiological factors can usually be discovered by careful and...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Price, J, Okai, D
Format: Journal article
Published: Elsevier 2016
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author Price, J
Okai, D
author_facet Price, J
Okai, D
author_sort Price, J
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description Functional disorders (FDs) are physical symptoms that trigger the sufferer to seek healthcare, but which remain unexplained after appropriate medical assessment. They are very common and cause significant distress and disability. Relevant aetiological factors can usually be discovered by careful and sympathetic clinical interview. What doctors say and do, and the way in which the healthcare system is organized, play a key role in aetiology. Although it is important to rule out serious physical pathology when patients present with physical symptoms, early ‘positive’ diagnosis of FDs can lead to better outcomes than diagnosis by exclusion. Commonly associated psychiatric conditions including depression, anxiety, substance abuse and personality disorders should be screened for. If reassurance and simple techniques of reattribution of symptoms do not lead to symptom resolution, cognitive behavioural therapy and the use of antidepressants as neuromodulating agents (rather than as antidepressants per se) should be considered.
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spelling oxford-uuid:125b0947-78f1-4a73-803e-3bab0d4b89c32022-03-26T10:07:31ZFunctional disorders and ‘medically unexplained physical symptoms’Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:125b0947-78f1-4a73-803e-3bab0d4b89c3Symplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2016Price, JOkai, DFunctional disorders (FDs) are physical symptoms that trigger the sufferer to seek healthcare, but which remain unexplained after appropriate medical assessment. They are very common and cause significant distress and disability. Relevant aetiological factors can usually be discovered by careful and sympathetic clinical interview. What doctors say and do, and the way in which the healthcare system is organized, play a key role in aetiology. Although it is important to rule out serious physical pathology when patients present with physical symptoms, early ‘positive’ diagnosis of FDs can lead to better outcomes than diagnosis by exclusion. Commonly associated psychiatric conditions including depression, anxiety, substance abuse and personality disorders should be screened for. If reassurance and simple techniques of reattribution of symptoms do not lead to symptom resolution, cognitive behavioural therapy and the use of antidepressants as neuromodulating agents (rather than as antidepressants per se) should be considered.
spellingShingle Price, J
Okai, D
Functional disorders and ‘medically unexplained physical symptoms’
title Functional disorders and ‘medically unexplained physical symptoms’
title_full Functional disorders and ‘medically unexplained physical symptoms’
title_fullStr Functional disorders and ‘medically unexplained physical symptoms’
title_full_unstemmed Functional disorders and ‘medically unexplained physical symptoms’
title_short Functional disorders and ‘medically unexplained physical symptoms’
title_sort functional disorders and medically unexplained physical symptoms
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