[The Role of Gut Feeling as an Alarm Signal for Identifying Misdiagnoses in the Psychosomatic Consultation]. / Der Stellenwert des Bauchgefühls als Warnsignal für Fehldiagnosen im Psychosomatischen Konsil.

BACKGROUND: A psychosomatic consultation service offers an opportunity to correct misdiagnoses. The doctor's non-analytical, experience-based gut feeling plays an essential role as diagnostic trailblazer. METHODOLOGY: In a case series study, the procedures of 165 psychosomatic consultations and the emotional and cognitive processes occurring in the consultant were recorded. The diagnostic process was analysed with reference to the dual process theory. With gut feeling, a distinction was made between a sense of alarm and a sense of reassurance. As an example, the processes that led to the discovery of misdiagnoses were presented at four consultations. RESULTS: A misdiagnosis was found in 24 consultations (16%). The reason for this was always a sense of alarm, which appeared in 29 of 165 consultations (18%). In 11 consultations (7%) there was a sense of reassurance, which in ten consultations was associated with a confirmation of the diagnosis and only in one case gave way to a sense of alarm and led to a later correction of the diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Paying attention to gut feeling and its sense of alarm is an effective method of recognizing misdiagnosis. Training programs should not only promote rational-analytical thinking, but also the doctor's self-critical introspection skills.

[Studies on the psychodynamics of Chronic Orofacial Pain Disorder]. / Untersuchungen zur Psychodynamik der chronischen orofazialen Schmerzstörung.

Studies on the psychodynamics of Chronic Orofacial Pain Disorder Objectives: Psychodynamic factors play an important role in its emergence and development of Chronic Orofacial Pain Disorder (COP), which is also known as Chronic Primary Orofacial Pain. This factors form the basis for differentiated psychotherapy. Methods: Seven female and two male patients with COP who had visited the Dental School, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and the dental surgery of a practising dentist over the year were included in the study. Following a detailed dental examination, a psychodynamic interview was videotaped, reconstructing the connections between the life history and the development of the illness. Psychosomatic data were assessed by 3 psychotherapists based on a consensus model with regard to symptom trigger mechanisms such as conflicts and pressure, the development of symptoms, and the personality structure. Pathogenetically, we differentiated among conversion, somatization and projection. Results: The patients had a mean age of 57 years (range: 44-67) and an average illness duration of three (1-5) years. The average age where the illness had manifested was 54 (43-64). All patients showed clear psychodynamic factors in the development and course of the illness. The symptoms developed mainly during transitional situations during the life history, predominately in midlife. During this phase, dental treatment undertaken for whatever reason could trigger the chronic symptoms, which could then be further exacerbated by further dental interventions. The mode of symptom development by equal number of patients related to a somatoform disorder, such as a somatization of affect, a conversion with conflict symbolism and a projective-hypochondriac disorder. In the remaining patients, COP was an accompanying symptom of depressive disorder or the consequence of a posttraumatic stress disorder with self-mutilating tendencies. Conclusion: The consideration of psychosomatic connections and pathogenetic differentiation is helpful for the understanding and management of COP. This diagnostic differentiation could serve as a basis for prognosis and for specific therapeutic indications. Despite numerous general researches about chronic pain syndromes, there is a lack of intervention studies which take into account the specific conditions of COP on a larger sample.

Do my feelings fit the diagnosis? Avoiding misdiagnoses in psychosomatic consultation services.

OBJECTIVE: Misdiagnoses are a major concern with far-reaching consequences, which have rarely been studied systematically. Therefore, the present study evaluated factors causing misdiagnoses identified by psychosomatic consultation services. METHODS: Over a period of 5 years, all patients referred to the psychosomatic consultation services of a large university hospital were analyzed consecutively for misdiagnoses. We analyzed the reasons for suspecting a misdiagnosis through systematic introspection during peer supervision and evaluated the causes during semistructured interviews with the referring physician. RESULTS: In 165 psychosomatic consultations, 24 disorders were misdiagnosed (15%). The reasons for questioning the initial diagnoses were the consulting physician's feelings and thoughts resulting from the patients' inappropriate behavior during the consultation and unusual clinical features. In eight cases, the misdiagnosis resulted from availability bias, and in three cases each it resulted from confirmation bias, search satisfaction bias, and framing effect and attribution bias. However, lack of medical knowledge played only a minor role. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the nonrational elements of the diagnostic process. In the context of psychosomatic consultation services, introspection and intuitive thought processes are helpful in identifying misdiagnoses. Self-satisfaction (availability bias) and overconfidence (confirmation bias) are most likely to result in misdiagnoses.

[Delusional Misidentification Syndrom and Violent Behavior - Risk Assessment and Management]. / Wahnhafte Missidentifikation und gewalttätiges Verhalten ­ Risikoabschätzung und Management.

OBJECTIVE AND METHOD: A case series of three patients with Delusional Misidentification Syndroms (DMS) and violent behavior is presented with respect to the correlation between DMS and violence as well as to the management of such occurrences. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: DMS could be one of the reasons for violent behavior of patients with psychiatric disorders. In such case violent behavior is not just restricted to intimates and relatives but also turns on non-familiar caregivers. DMS could be a risk factor for violent behavior and should therefore be registered with help of a nuanced psychopathological exploration at the time of clinical admission and in course of treatment. Moreover risk assessment tools and safety measures (e. g. medication, monitoring) could be considered for patients with DMS.

[How do employees of psychiatric hospitals evaluate medical ethical conflicts in coercive measures]. / Wie bewerten Mitarbeiter einer psychiatrischen Klinik medizinethische Konflikte bei Zwangsmaßnahmen.

BACKGROUND: The practice of coercive treatment in psychiatric hospitals raises numerous medical, juridical and ethical questions. Moreover, coercive measures lead to the contradiction of certain medical ethical principles. We examined the attitudes of psychiatric hospital employees towards ethical conflicts in medicine and asked them how they decide for or against coercive measures through the help of a hypothetical case. METHOD: In a questionnaire, 73 psychiatric hospital employees of various professions were asked about their attitudes towards several ethical conflicts in medicine. They were requested to decide for or against the use of coercive measures in the case of a hypothetical patient suffering from schizophrenia. RESULTS: The majority of the respondents agreed that in conflicts between principles of medical ethics the focus of treatment should be on the wellbeing of the patient (89 %) rather than on that of society (11 %). They also favored the principle of autonomy (58 %) over paternalism (42 %). The principle of nonmaleficence appeared to be equally important as beneficence (51 % vs. 49 %). Less invasive coercive measures (assistance through a person in charge) were preferred to more invasive ones (coercive medication), as our case vignette showed. There were no highly significant correlations found between sociodemographic factors (taking work experience and profession into account), judgement about medical ethical conflicts and the decision for or against coercive treatment. Both employees of closed wards with mid-long work experience (6-15 years) as well as nursing staff were more likely to choose coercive treatment. No statistically significant correlation could be determined between the preference of medical ethical principles and decisions about coercive treatment. CONCLUSION: Coercive treatment leads to ethical conflicts in medicine. The impact of such conflicts on the application of coercive measures through employees of psychiatric hospitals should be further explored and examined.

Response to ostracism in patients with chronic depression, episodic depression and borderline personality disorder a study using Cyberball.

BACKGROUND: Social exclusion (ostracism) can lead to interactional frustration and may play an important role as trigger and symptom amplifier in affective disorders. To investigate immediate emotional and behavioral reactions as well as coping, social exclusion can be mimicked in experimental situations, e.g. in the Cyberball paradigm, a virtual ball tossing game which is well established in social psychology. The present cross-diagnostic study compares the responses to social exclusion in patients with chronic depression (CD), episodic depression (ED) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) in comparison to a healthy control group. METHODS: After baseline characterization, 120 participants (29 patients with CD, 20 with ED, 28 with BPD and 43 healthy controls) played Cyberball with two virtual players and complete exclusion after three times receiving the ball. Thereafter, standard questionnaires were applied for measuring needs, threats, inner tension, emotions and behavioral intentions. RESULTS: Patients with CD showed a higher intensity of ostracism and aversive impact, as well as the wish to escape the situation (behavioral intention) compared to ED. In most categories, CD and ED had scores between BPD and healthy controls (with this sequence) and with BPD patients showing the largest difference to healthy controls. LIMITATIONS: The assessment did neither include objective behavioral measures (which is a general limitation in the majority of studies using Cyberball) nor any biological variables. The sample sizes of the diagnostic subgroups were moderate. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the hypothesis that social exclusion situations lead to a more aversive emotional and behavioral reaction in CD compared to ED. Psychological and biological underpinnings of these reactions should be addressed in future transdiagnostic studies. Moreover, psychotherapy in CD should focus on specific needs of CD patients for developing a functional coping in threatening interpersonal situations.

[Assessing psychosomatic aspects of chronic orofacial pain syndrome]. / Zur Psychosomatik des chronischen orofazialen Schmerzsyndroms -- Eine Pilotstudie mithilfe der strukturalen Analyse sozialen Verhaltens.

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of COS is often formulated when classification fails for the lack of clear symptoms or persisting complaints in spite of evidence-based dental care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eight patients suffering from COS and referred to us by the Dental Clinic of the Munich University were invited to complete the self-rating SASB-Intrex questionnaire. In addition, the patients were examined in a clinical psychodynamic interview. RESULTS: All patients suffered from undefined, very often bizarre, complaints of the teeth, oral cavity, and face. These dysesthetic syndromes occurred after previous dental interventions. However, the complaints surpass symptomatic pain due to local aetiologies or neurological causes. There was clinical evidence of underlying unconscious conflicts, e. g., concerning control vs. submission. All patients showed clinically-relevant psychosomatic co-morbidity which could be formulated as cyclic maladaptive interpersonal patterns. CONCLUSION: COS patients are often not sufficiently examined and undergo multiple, sometimes irreversible and invalidating dental or surgical interventions. Given their exclusively somatic attribution style, referral to psychotherapy is frequently unsuccessful. Characteristic cyclic maladaptive interaction patterns may contribute to the chronification process. This study shows the difficulties and chances of an interdisciplinary diagnosis and treatment program.