Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jan 6;20(1):6.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-019-2424-9.

Impact of an educational workshop on psychiatrists' attitude towards psychosomatic medicine

Franziska Baessler  1 , Anja Ciprianidis  2 , Fabienne Louise Wagner  2 , Ali Zafar  2 , Thanos Kanellopoulos  3 , Tabea Chiara Baumann  2 , Clara-Louisa Sandmann  2 , Jobst-Hendrik Schultz  2
Affiliations

Impact of an educational workshop on psychiatrists' attitude towards psychosomatic medicine

Franziska Baessler et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Although psychosomatic medicine is not recognised as a medical specialisation globally, it has proven useful for treating many disorders in Germany. This paper reports on the impact of an educational workshop as a tool for raising awareness about psychosomatic medicine among international psychiatrists.

Methods: Psychiatrists from eight different countries were educated on psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy during a 90-min workshop using a video, a slide presentation and an innovative teaching format called 'speed coaching'. Learning outcomes were assessed by analysing questionnaires completed by the participants before and after the workshop.

Results: Half of the participants who initially rejected the notion that psychosomatic medicine should be a specialisation on its own changed their minds in favour for it to be a separate discipline (p = 0.125). Awareness about which diseases and patients psychosomatic doctors deal with was increased. The intent for treatment of patients with eating disorders by a psychosomatic physician quadrupled among the participants (p = 0.004).

Conclusions: A brief educational intervention can influence psychiatrists' decisions to opt for approaches by doctors specialized in psychosomatics for certain disorders. Further studies may explore why psychiatrists agree or disagree that psychosomatic medicine should be a separate specialisation on its own.

Keywords: Attitude; Education; Innovative teaching; Psychosomatics; Trainees.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Steinberg H, Herrmann-Lingen C, Himmerich H. Johann Christian august Heinroth: psychosomatic medicine eighty years before Freud. Psychiatr Danub. 2013;25(1):11–16. - PubMed
    1. Boland RJ, et al. Consultation-liaison psychiatry vs psychosomatic medicine: What’s in a name? Psychosomatics. 2018;59(3):207–210. - PubMed
    1. Weiner H. The dynamics of the organism: implications of recent biological thought for psychosomatic theory and research. Psychosom Med. 1989;51(6):608–635. - PubMed
    1. Malt UF. German psychosomatic medicine: an international perspective. Adv Psychosom Med. 2004;26:196–202. - PubMed
    1. Fava GA, Cosci F, Sonino N. Current psychosomatic practice. Psychother Psychosom. 2017;86(1):13–30. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources