Contributions of Psychosomatic Medicine to Clinical and Preventive Medicine.

This paper provides an updated review of the main contributions of Psychosomatic Medicine to clinical and preventive medicine. Meta analyses, comprehensive reviews and controlled studies were selected. Current advances in the field indicate that health care can be improved by using a psychosomatic approach that takes into account psychosocial factors affecting individual vulnerability, the holistic consideration of patient care, and the integration of psychological interventions in medicine. Consolidated evidence in Psychosomatic Medicine provides the ideal background for dealing with new needs emerging in medical practice, including chronic illness management, somatic unexplained symptoms, the shift in the role of patients from health consumers to actively health producers, primary early life prevention, and the appraisal of health outcomes beyond the biomedical reductionism.