This is a talk given to a local conference in Cardiff in April 2008 concerning the importance of medically unexplained symptoms.

1. Medicine for Psychiatrists Conference Cardiff 2008
Understanding Treating
Medically Unexplained Symptoms
Alex Mitchell alex.mitchell@leicspart.nhs.uk
Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry

2. Contents
• Diagnostic Methods
– Assumptions vs Diagnostic Accuracy
• Classification of Medically Unexplained Symptoms
– Common or rare?
– Somatoform Disorders in DSMIV and ICD10
• The Clinical Significance of MUS
– MUS in Primary Care
– MUS in Secondary Care
• Prognosis Treatment of MUS
– What do we know
Clinical Features
Unrecognised Recognised
Uncertain
Pathology

3. 1. Introduction