Abstract

Info

Title:: Definition of “Medically Unexplained Symptoms”: A Chinese Perspective on Somatization Diagnosis

Keywords:: somatization; medically unexplained symptoms; medical history; cultural psychology

Abstract:: Medically unexplained symptoms are functional somatic symptoms which cannot be reasonably explained by physiological causes of experimental medicine. They are also one of the core elements of the diagnostic criteria for identifying somatic psychological disorders like somatization. The definition of medically unexplained symptoms and its history reflect the dualist division between general medicine and psychiatry in the western medical system. From the Chinese perspective characterized by an integrated whole of body and mind and by the concept of holistic medicine, the dualist division of the medical sciences is not unavoidable. This difference constitutes one of the reasons why somatization diagnosis is not applicable in China.