Psychosomatic urology. A practice-oriented presentation

Psychosomatics is a branch of medical science dealing with biopsychosocial interactions in the origin, course and treatment of human illnesses. In the biopsychosocial model the patient is considered in its entirety. In the practice of urologists the proportion of patients with psychosomatic clinical symptoms varies between 15 and 50%. The main focus is on somatoform autonomous dysfunctions. The main symptom involves the fact that often persisting complaints cannot be explained by suitable physical findings. The anatomical characteristics of the urogenital tract and the resultant three functional levels, production, reproduction and desire, explain the susceptibility to psychological participation. Besides the exclusion of inflammatory, obstructive or malignant illnesses, the diagnostics relies on an anamnesis interview in terms of the basic psychosomatic therapy. The treatment is individual and multimodal in cooperation with physiotherapists and psychotherapists.