Complex Medicopsychosocial Conditions: Chronic and Functional Disorders

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Definitions

  • Medically Unexplained Symptoms

  • Functional Symptoms

  • Somatisation

  • Somatoform Disorders

  • Functional Clinical Syndromes

  • Abnormal Illness Behaviour

• Epidemiology

• Diagnostic Considerations

• Aetiology

  • Examples of Risk Factors

  • Examples of Triggers

  • Examples of Maintaining Factors

• Presentation

• Assessment

  • A Detailed and Comprehensive History

  • Psychosocial Assessment

  • A Thorough Physical Examination

  • Differential Diagnosis

  • Investigations

  • Feed Back to the Family

• Management

  • Inpatient Management

  • Ambulatory Management

  • Pharmacological Management

  • Management Challenges

• Prognosis

• Common Challenges in Complex Chronic Illness

• References