Clinimetric Assessment in Psychosomatic Medicine

Abstract

“Clinimetrics” is the term introduced by Alvan R. Feinstein in the early 1980s to indicate a domain concerned with indexes, rating scales, and other expressions that are used to describe or measure symptoms, physical signs, and other clinical phenomena. Macroanalysis is a helpful clinimetric tool to identify the relationships between biological and psychosocial variables and the individual targets for medical intervention. The present chapter illustrates how clinimetrics may help expanding the narrow range of information that is currently used in psychosomatic medicine. It will focus on the clinimetric approach, on the limitations of the current traditional nosography (i.e., the DSM-5), and on the assessment of psychosocial syndromes via the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research (DCPR)—revised. They have been recently presented in an updated version based on insights derived from studies carried out so far and encompass allostatic overload, type A behavior, alexithymia, the spectrum of maladaptive illness behavior, demoralization, irritable mood, and somatic symptoms secondary to a psychiatric disorder. Clinimetrics represents a perspective of psychosomatic medicine providing an intellectual home for clinical judgment, whose implementation is likely to improve outcomes both in clinical research and practice.