Discussing concepts of social medicine relevant to the research fields of psychosomatic medicine

This is an interesting editorial/review article from the open source journal, BioPsychoSocial Medicine - here the authors look at the relative absence of social in the biopsychosocial approach, and proposes some avenues for exploration. This is model is the closest thing we currently have to an integral medical model that is widespread and in use.

Bio-psycho-social medicine is a comprehensive form of medicine bridging clinical medicine and public health

Mutsuhiro Nakao

BioPsychoSocial Medicine 2010, 4:19doi:10.1186/1751-0759-4-19

Published:	5 November 2010

Abstract (provisional)

The journal, BioPsychoSocial Medicine, was launched in January 2007, and more than three and a half years have passed since the start of publication. A total of 70 articles have been published, as of August 2010, but the number of those directly discussing issues of public health or social medicine is relatively small. Psychosomatic medicine, or biopsychosocial medicine, encompasses all aspects of the interrelationships between the biological, psychological, social, and behavioral factors of health and illness, and is not limited to mind and body connections in humans. Thus, it is meaningful that social aspects of health and illness are discussed in the current issue of this journal. The purpose of this special series is to introduce important concepts of social medicine relevant to the research fields of psychosomatic medicine.

The complete article is available as a provisional PDF. The fully formatted PDF and HTML versions are in production.

Tags: concepts of social medicine, research fields, psychosomatic medicine, Health, BioPsychoSocial, medicine, society, BioPsychoSocial Medicine, editorial, biological, psychological, social, behavioral, factors of health and illness