Meeting Its Mission: Does Psychosomatics Align With the Mission of Its Parent Organization, the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine?

Abstract

Background: The vision and mission statements of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (APM) indicate that the APM should promote excellence in clinical care for patients with comorbid psychiatric and general medical conditions by seeking to influence research, public policy, and interdisciplinary education.

Objective: As the APM owns the journal, Psychosomatics, we sought to assess whether the APM's journal was fulfilling the vision and mission of its parent organization by reviewing the content of articles published in the journal to determine whether it sufficiently addresses the various clinical care knowledge areas it seeks to influence.

Methods: We categorized content in all review articles, case reports, and original research articles published in Psychosomatics in 2015 and 2016. Each article was assigned to as many categories that it covered.

Results: In the 163 articles reviewed, the most frequently covered fund of knowledge area was psychiatric morbidity in medical populations (44.2%); among psychiatric disorders, mood disorders (22.1%), psychiatric disorders due to a general medical condition or toxic substance (21.5%), anxiety disorders (14.7%), and delirium (13.5) were the most frequently covered. Of the medical and surgical topics, neurology (19.6%), coping with chronic illness/psychological response to illness (17.8%), toxicology (11.7%), outpatient medicine (10.4%), and cardiology (9.8%) appeared most often.

Conclusions: Psychosomatics appears to be successfully providing content relevant to the APM's vision and mission statements and to practitioners of psychosomatic medicine.

Keywords: Consultation psychiatry; Journal; Mission statement; Psychosomatic medicine.