Somatization and Psychosomatic Symptoms

This book covers not only the assessment and treatment of chronic physical complaints but also explores the mechanisms that underlie them. It examines such symptoms and disorders as stress-induced cardiomyopathy, post-stroke depression and fibromyalgic pain.

Kyung Bong Koh, M.D., Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. He is the author of Stress and Psychosomatic Medicine and has contributed chapters to several textbooks. His many published articles concentrate primarily on psychosomatic medicine, psychoneuroimmunology, somatization, and stress. He has developed a number of psychological instruments, including the Stress Response Inventory. He has received three academic awards for his distinguished research on the relationship between anger and somatization, immunology in anxiety disorders, and neural activity in panic disorder and somatoform disorder from the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association. He played a leading role in founding and also served as president of the Korean Society of Psychosomatic Medicine. He worked as chair of the Scientific Committee of the Society and was the first editor-in-chief of the Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine. In addition, he served as chairperson of the organizing committee of the international academic meetings, such as the 13th Asian College of Psychosomatic Medicine and the 21st World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine held in Seoul, Korea. He is a member of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine and on the editorial board of Biopsychosocial Medicine.