Psychosomatic disorders in childhood

Abstract

The term psychosomatic has been used with two meanings. In one, it refers to a small group of physical diseases or syndromes such as asthma, where both physical and psychiatric factors are thought to play a role. In the other, it refers to a method of clinical approach to dealing with all patients. The latter approach has much in common with Adolf Meyer's "Psychobiological", holistic approach with interest in the vicissitudes of the whole organism rather than in the activity of single organs. Adolf Meyer, born in Zurich, emigrated to the United States where, as Professor of Psychiatry at lohns Hopkins, he gathered around him a number of distinghuised pupils amongst whom, Aubrey Lewis, the latter an early protagonist of Psychosomatics in Great Britain.