Over ten million Americans suffer from co-morbid chronic medical and psychiatric illnesses, making the need to properly evaluate, diagnose and treat such individuals a major public health mandate and priority. Psychosomatic Medicine focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders and symptoms in complex medically ill patients. The APA offers educational, policy, and clinical resources and links to provide support to these psychiatrists.
APA Council on Psychosomatic Medicine
The Council on Psychosomatic Medicine (Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry) focuses on psychiatric care of persons who are medically ill and thus stands at the interface of psychiatry with other medical specialties. It recognizes that integration of biopsychosocial care is vital to the well-being of patients and that full membership in the house of medicine is essential to the well-being of our profession. It accomplishes its goals by initiatives related to research, clinical care, education, and health care policy.
The Council is charged to:
-
Provide leadership at the interface of psychiatry with other medical specialties.
-
Provide training and education to psychiatrists and other physicians, residents (including psychiatric residents), and medical students at scientific meetings and in other settings about the special needs of those with psychiatric illness in medically ill and complex medically ill populations.
-
Advocate for the enhancement of training in Psychosomatic Medicine (Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry) in medical schools and residency training programs.
-
Create educational materials about the needs of those with psychiatric illness in medically ill and complex medically ill populations and the role of psychiatry/psychiatrists in meeting those needs – for medical and non-medical audiences
-
Work with other components and/or organizations on health care policy initiatives: the evaluation and design of delivery systems, models of care, and payment mechanisms aimed at promoting high degrees of quality and cost-effectiveness in those with significant medical-psychiatric co-morbidity.
-
Support APA’s advocacy efforts to increase the funding of research in these areas
-
Support and/or lead ongoing efforts to improve the recruitment of psychiatrists into Psychosomatic (Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry) fellowship programs.
Link to brief bios of current members of the Council.