Biomedical subjects

P K Fink

Publications and source records attributed to P K Fink.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1998

[Somatization in general practice].

Patients with unexplained physical symptoms are very common in primary care. Some patients attribute these symptoms to physical disease (somatizing patients). Somatization can be a symptom of psychiatric disorder, which is found in 1/4 to 1/3 of the patients in a primary care setting. This form of somatization makes diagnosing difficult and is the main reason why psychiatric disorders are underdiagnosed. Simple techniques for diagnosing and treating somatizing patients are available to general practitioners. However, to improve diagnostic sensitivity and treatment, further teaching and development in primary care settings are necessary.

Denmark↗

PubMed1994

[Consultation-liaison psychiatry--the clinical couterpart of psychosomatics].

Consultation-liaison psychiatry (C-L psychiatry) was founded in the USA in the 1930's as a clinical pendant of Psychosomatic medicine. By support and grants provided from the NIMH (National Institute for Mental Health) during the 1970's and 1980's, C-L psychiatry has now become an integrated part of the health care system in the USA. C-L psychiatric services are now being established in some European countries also. The aim of this review has thus been to introduce the C-L psychiatry sub-specialty to a Danish audience.

Denmark↗

PubMed1993

[Somatic symptoms and complaints of somatizing patients].

The purpose of the study was to describe the physical complaints and symptoms of persistently somatizing patients. Individuals in the general population (age 17-49 years) with at least ten general admissions during an eight-year period were studied. Persistent somatizers (i.e. patients with more than six medically unexplained general admissions) were compared with patients whose admissions could be ascribed to well-defined somatic disorders. Somatizers were characterized by multiple symptoms from many organ systems, and their physical complaints simulated most types of somatic disorders. Although some symptoms were more common than others, none were infrequent, so neither "classic" conversion symptoms nor pain symptoms were found to be especially characteristic of the persistent somatizer. These findings question the use of a predefined symptom checklist in the diagnostic criteria for somatizing disorder. One fifth of the persistent somatizers had been admitted at least once for factitious illness, but apart from the fact that they had more symptoms and admissions, they did not differ from the other persistent somatizers.

Adolescent↗