It's Not Just in Your Head: Demystifying the Brain-Body Connection in Medical Illness

Summary

Medically unexplained symptoms account for 40 percent of primary care visits in the United States, yet a "biological" cause is discovered only 25 percent of the time, leaving both patients and their providers frustrated.

People who experience medically unexplained symptoms often feel unheard, marginalized, or even dismissed by their medical providers. Physicians strive to help people, yet the difficulty they face trying to determine the causes of symptoms that do not easily fit into neat diagnostic boxes can lead to frustration and helplessness. Diagnosing cases of medically unexplained symptoms can lead to an overuse of an already overburdened health system as patients are referred from one specialist to another in an attempt to find answers to their puzzling constellations of symptoms.

Dr. Susan Trachman, a specialist in psychosomatic medicine and the writer of the immensely popular Psychology Today blog It's Not Just in Your Head, has seen firsthand her patients' frustration. Her book, It's Not Just in Your Head, goes in depth and offers answers and workable solutions by teaching listeners about different types of symptoms and how to explain them. Divided into major illness groups, this book will empower listeners to be their own Sherlock Holmes by giving them the tools they need.