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The meaning and scope of psychosomatic medicine are defined in both their scientific and applied aspects. The semantic and conceptual ambiguities in which this field abounds are pointed out and an attempt at their attenuation is made. Some key theoretical concepts and current explanatory hypotheses in the field of psychosomatics are critically reviewed. The multifaceted concept of psychological stress is seen as the main unifying construct in current psychosomatic theory. A trend away from preoccupation with specific psychogenesis of “psychosomatic” disorders is noted. Recognition of the complexity of the psycho-socio-biological processes determining health and disease has displaced earlier reductionist psychogenic hypotheses derived mainly from psychoanalytic theory.
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Z. J. Lipowski (1968) studied this question.
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