Patients who appear to be “physically ill” need to see a psychiatrist

With the rapid socio-economic development in China, the pace of people’s work, study and life is accelerating and the level of tension is getting higher and higher. The psychosocial problems in the population and the psychological factors involved in clinical diseases of various disciplines are also increasing day by day. Moreover, in the development of clinical medicine, more and more attention has been paid to the role of psychological factors in various stages of disease development. Psychosomatic medicine believes that psychological factors are involved in the whole process of disease, from the patient’s susceptibility before the onset of the disease, i.e., susceptible tendency, to the direct cause of the disease, the pathogenesis, strong and persistent adverse emotional factors can lead to physical diseases, and physical diseases can appear corresponding psycho-emotional reactions. Therefore, psychotherapy has become an important part of clinical work, and has attracted the general attention of medical workers and society as a whole. So, what kind of people need to see a psychological clinic? In general hospitals, it is common to see a portion of patients with complaints of various pains, gastrointestinal disorders, heart attacks, and changes in somatic sensations or structures, such as unusual sensations or asymmetries in the eyes, nose, and mouth and lips. In particular, internal medicine visits are more likely to occur. This group of patients often travels to hospitals to worry about the pain of their disease, but repeated examinations do not result in a clear diagnosis of the disease. This is because no medical evidence of organic damage can be found after repeated examinations, and neither positive signs nor pathological mechanisms can be used to explain the disease. Follow-up has shown no significant effect of treatment. As these patients are convinced that they are suffering from this or that somatic disease, they continue to seek medical attention, express dissatisfaction with the absence of a positive diagnosis of the disease, and put their trust in the assurances, promises, and advice given by doctors. Instead, they are fearful, anxious, depressed, and often accompanied by sympathetic excitement such as easy sweating, palpitations, dry mouth, trembling, and blushing, for fear of delaying the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Due to the pain of long-term excessive concern about the physical discomfort and the eagerness to seek treatment everywhere, work, study, interpersonal communication and family life are affected, and social function is impaired to varying degrees. Such patients have persistent somatic symptoms for many years closely related to psychological factors, and it is difficult to explain the somatic symptoms and medication is not effective or even ineffective, such patients we recommend to see a psychologist. Psychological problems are a group of disorders characterized by somatic form disorders, commonly seen in hypochondria, phytodysfunction, cardiac neurosis, but also in depressive disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, anxiety disorders, fear disorders, panic attacks and other neurotic symptoms. There is also a part of the people due to study tension, job transfer, work and life environment changes and maladjustment; mental stress, concentration difficulties, memory loss; due to love, marriage frustration, family relationship discord, interpersonal difficulties resulting in social maladjustment, mood change; due to layoff, pending employment, retirement, sudden accidents resulting in social status change resulting in emotional anxiety irritability. The above-mentioned factors may lead to the poor social adjustment and mood change. The bad moods caused by the above factors often lead to physical discomfort over time: headache, dizziness, insomnia, fatigue, pain, gastrointestinal disorders, palpitations and chest tightness. The cause of all the symptoms is the persistent bad mood caused by various psychological factors mentioned above. In this case it is necessary to turn to psychological counseling and treatment to make some help by means of psychological relief.