ABC of Medically Unexplained Symptoms

About the ABC series The new ABC series has been thoroughly updated, offering a fresh look, layout and features throughout, helping you to access information and deliver the best patient care. The newly designed books remain an essential reference tool for GPs, GP registrars, junior doctors and those in primary care, designed to address the concerns of general practitioners and provide effective study aids for doctors in training. Now offering over 70 titles, this extensive series provides you with a quick and dependable reference on a range of topics in all the major specialities. Each book in the new series now offers links to further information and articles, and a new dedicated website provides you with even more support. The ABC series is the essential and dependable source of up-to-date information for all practitioners and students in general practice. To receive automatic updates on books and journals in your specialty, join our email list. Sign up today at www.wiley.com/email

• Contributors viiAcknowledgements ix1 Introduction 1Chris Burton2 Epidemiology and Impact in Primary and Secondary Care 5Alexandra Rolfe and Chris Burton3 Considering Organic Disease 7David Weller and Chris Burton4 Considering Depression and Anxiety 10Alan Carson and Jon Stone5 Medically Unexplained Symptoms and the General Practitioner 15Christopher Dowrick6 Principles of Assessment and Treatment 18Chris Burton7 Palpitations Chest Pain and Breathlessness 22Chris Burton8 Headache 27David P. Kernick9 Gastrointestinal Symptoms: Functional Dyspepsia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome 31Henriëtte E. van der Horst10 Pelvic and Reproductive System Symptoms 36Nur Amalina Che Bakri, Camille Busby-Earle, Robby Steel and Andrew W. Horne11 Widespread Musculoskeletal Pain 40Barbara Nicholl, John McBeth and Christian Mallen12 Fatigue 43Alison J. Wearden13 Neurological Symptoms: Weakness Blackouts and Dizziness 47Jon Stone and Alan Carson14 Managing Medically Unexplained Symptoms in the Consultation 52Avril F. Danczak15 Cognitive Approaches to Treatment 56Vincent Deary16 Behavioural Approaches to Treatment 60Vincent Deary17 Pharmacological Treatment 64Killian A. Welch18 Conclusion 68Chris BurtonAppendix: Suggestions for Reflection and Audit 69Chris BurtonIndex 71

“The major contribution this monograph makes is to recognize that not all symptoms are readily explainable by a clear diagnosis. To young clinicians, this can be especially important as they face both the straightforward diagnosis and the conundrum. It is an easy read and another tool for working with primary care patients. ”  (Doody’s, 30 August 2013)