Abstract
Medically Unexplained Symptoms are highly prevalent in both primary and secondary care and are seen in all medical specialties. For example, fibromyalgia is seen in rheumatology, irritable bowel syndrome in gastro-enterology, non-cardiac chest pain in cardiology. These syndromes have been studied in isolation yet there is considerable overlap in symptoms with more than half of patients with one MUS fulfilling diagnostic criteria for one other. This suggests that MUS could be ‘lumped’. However, research has observed that symptom overlap is not present between all MUS. There are differences in pathophysiology and cognitive and behavioural responses between syndromes. This has generated ongoing debate as to whether MUS should be ‘lumped’ or ‘split’. We argue that a transdiagnostic approach that is flexible enough to treat specific responses peculiar to certain conditions could accommodate both ‘lumping’ and ‘splitting’.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 187-191 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Mental Health |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 9 May 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 9 May 2017 |
Access to Document
- Lumping and splitting medically_CHALDER_Publishedonline9May2017_GREEN AAM
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Mental Health, v. 26, issue 3, published online on 09/05/17, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638237.2017.1322187