Psychosomatic medicine and liaison psychiatry: empowering patients through imparting information

Abstract

Τhe empowerment of patients is a key aspect of professionalism in psychiatry. The sensitive, accurate and timely imparting of information is one of the highest expectations that patients and carers have of health-care professionals. In the course of his clinical work in Liaison Psychiatry the author has developed an information leaflet which reflects established practice and emerging evidence in the broad field of psychosomatic medicine and mind body interactions and psychopathology. Informal feedback from patients, carers and fellow clinicians suggests that it has been well received. Good reception has been found in practice among patients often thought as resistant to psychological approaches to psychosomatics. Necessarily, a single patient information leaflet has limitations in its scope. The focus of the leaflet is primarily on setting the context for understanding processes of somatisation. This supports the establishment of a therapeutic alliance between patient and clinician. However, to make further progress in the care and management of patients presenting thus, excellent interview and communication skills on the part of the clinician are required.