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On first impression Dr Peter Shoenberg's book on psychosomatic medicine comes across as a kind of text-book divided into sections covering four main areas. The first chapters include the origin of the term ‘psychosomatic’, its history and development, a review of the current body of knowledge relating to stress and the body, and a list and description of the uses of various forms of psychotherapy. These include psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, supportive and cognitive-behavioural therapy, which are the therapeutic treatments most commonly used to treat people with the various psychosomatic disorders. The final chapter entitled ‘Developing a Psychosomatic Imagination’ makes a plea for imaginative and flexible thinking from clinicians in both the medical and psychotherapeutic world in this complex area of disturbance and illness.
In his introductory chapter, Dr Shoenberg defines psychosomatic illness as: ‘any physical illness in which psychological factors have played a significant role in its precipitation and maintenance, and in some cases, in its causation as well’ (p. 6). He adds that psychological factors are not necessarily the sole or dominant ones except in particular conditions such as eating disorders, conversion disorder, hypochondriasis and body dysmorphic