Somatic symptom and related disorders: Guidance on assessment and management for paediatric health care providers 2025 Saunders et al

[Andy]

Abstract​

Somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRDs) pose significant challenges in paediatric health care due to their impacts on child and adolescent well-being, functioning, and family systems. This statement offers comprehensive guidance to health care providers on the assessment and management of SSRDs as well as communication strategies for clinical encounters. Specific SSRD diagnoses are outlined along with common clinical presentations and recommended approaches to medical investigations and patient/family communication early in the diagnostic journey. Evidence-based treatments for SSRDs once a diagnosis has been established are delineated. Psychoeducational approaches that help to shift the onus of care from unnecessary medical testing and procedures, thereby shortening the diagnostic journey and promoting more functional, rehabilitative care therapies, are reviewed. Specific strategies to support patients and their families and validate their perspectives are outlined.

Open access

 

[Amw66]

@Tilly

 

[Tilly]

@Tilly

Fluff buckets this needs a lot of unpacking and several buckets of coffee. This seems to be introducing the idea that excitement is an emotion that impacts health in a negative way. Foer those with PEM that would be correct and this is what they are working on, to hide and stop diagnosis and treatment. will discuss later when I have had a chance to reread

 

[Hoopoe]

Psychoeducational approaches that help to shift the onus of care from unnecessary medical testing and procedures, thereby shortening the diagnostic journey and promoting more functional, rehabilitative care therapies, are reviewed. Specific strategies to support patients and their families and validate their perspectives are outlined.

Why is the narrative of somatization (or similar concepts) necessary to shift the focus away from unnecessary testing and procedures towards rehabilitative care therapies and providing support to patients?

I don't see what the added value of this narrative is for patients, and can see potential harm from it. Why can't we just say that we don't know what illness the patient has and how to treat it, and all we can do is try and figure out how to best manage it in daily life. That's a more flexible view than the dogmatic somatization narrative which wants to find solutions only in a narrow space and leads to the same therapeutic approaches that don't seem to generally produce meaningful results (other than reducing costs and making some patients feel like they're being cared for).

I believe it's precisely this insistence to view unexplained illness through a lense of somatization, or more generally as emotional problem or problematic thinking pattern somehow manifesting as physical symptoms, that is a barrier to success. There cannot possible be a generally effective treatment program with meaningful beneficial effects for all or most unexplained illnesses, and that is why there will never be a treatment for "medically unexplained symptoms".

The idea of finding ways to manage unexplained illness might work better if the problem was approached in a better way.

 

[Utsikt]

The abstract reads like propaganda for the psychologists and possibly physios.

 

[Sean]

They all do. They have a basic template including stuff like how common it is, how difficult it is, how much it costs the economy, how important the sales pitch is, blah blah blah.