History of Psychosomatic Medicine Revisited

정신신체의학 역사의 재조명

Since the onset of modern psychosomatic medicine decades ago. it has made significant at contribution to general medicine in terms of understanding the patient as a whole person suffering from an illness rather than as a disease per se. However, initial expectation of delineating specific psychogenesis and developing specific treatment modality has not been fulfilled. Consequently, it has raised substantial concern about the continuing utility of psychosomatic medicine in modem medicine. The author attempted to review critically the evolution of psychosomatic medicine from the perspective of the present and to make projections into the near future. It is concluded that psychosomatic medicine in the future will continue to contribute to development of modem medicine not only as the scientific principle but also as the practical methodology, working as creative interface among disciplines and fusing ideas from rapidly developing molecular biology and neuroscience with psychosomatic concepts. Finally, suggestions for further developing psychosomatic medicine in Korea are made.