Thure von Uexküll († 2004) is considered pioneer and nestor of psychosomatic medicine. His concept of "integrated medicine" wanted to bring the biopsychosocial dimension of the human being back into the special fields of medicine.
A dualism that separates body and mind has prevailed in scientific medicine for many years. Simple cause-and-effect models are based on linear relationships which, however, often do not do justice to many complex and chronic diseases. Because why does person get sick? And why now? These supposedly simple questions reveal the whole dilemma of medical healing and present every practitioner with great challenge. Only comprehensive understanding of the patient's physical, mental and social concerns enables the patient's complaints to be interpreted and treated correctly.
Thure von Uexküll (1908–2004) recognized the importance of these connections and combined concepts of biosemiotics, constructivism and systems theory for his model of an integrated medicine. According to this approach, symptoms are signs in the sense of indications that do not have fixed, but an assigned meaning and therefore have to be interpreted jointly by the patient and the doctor. The pain complained about by the patient can therefore be an indication of an organic disorder, but also, for example, symbol of sadness and loss. "At best, this common interpretation creates new common reality," says Dr. Sven Eisenreich, senior physician at the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Frankfurt am Main and director of the Thure von Uexküll Academy for Integrated Medicine. In addition, illness is primarily not an exclusive function, but rather loss of fit or disorder of fit. For example, the young type I diabetic must not only adapt to the physical level through regular blood sugar measurements and insulin injections, but also mentally integrate the illness and take it into account in his social life. The doctor, in turn, has to recognize the level at which there may not yet be sufficient fit or at which level it is threatened.
Thure von Uexküll has since been considered pioneer and nestor of psychosomatic medicine in Germany, although he himself has the independence of the subject looked more critical. Rather, he advocated bringing this basic type of medical thinking into all specialist disciplines.
Thure von Uexküll († 2004) is considered pioneer and nestor of psychosomatic medicine. His concept of "integrated medicine" wanted to bring the biopsychosocial dimension of the human being back into the special fields of medicine.
A dualism that separates body and mind has prevailed in scientific medicine for many years. Simple cause-and-effect models are based on linear relationships which, however, often do not do justice to many complex and chronic diseases. Because why does person get sick? And why now? These supposedly simple questions reveal the whole dilemma of medical healing and present every practitioner with great challenge. Only comprehensive understanding of the patient's physical, mental and social concerns enables the patient's complaints to be interpreted and treated correctly.
Thure von Uexküll (1908–2004) recognized the importance of these connections and combined concepts of biosemiotics, constructivism and systems theory for his model of an integrated medicine. According to this approach, symptoms are signs in the sense of indications that do not have fixed, but an assigned meaning and therefore have to be interpreted jointly by the patient and the doctor. The pain complained about by the patient can therefore be an indication of an organic disorder, but also, for example, symbol of sadness and loss. "At best, this common interpretation creates new common reality," says Dr. Sven Eisenreich, senior physician at the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Frankfurt am Main and director of the Thure von Uexküll Academy for Integrated Medicine. In addition, illness is primarily not an exclusive function, but rather loss of fit or disorder of fit. For example, the young type I diabetic must not only adapt to the physical level through regular blood sugar measurements and insulin injections, but also mentally integrate the illness and take it into account in his social life. The doctor, in turn, has to recognize the level at which there may not yet be sufficient fit or at which level it is threatened.
Thure von Uexküll has since been considered pioneer and nestor of psychosomatic medicine in Germany, although he himself has the independence of the subject looked more critical. Rather, he advocated bringing this basic type of medical thinking into all specialist disciplines.For him, integrated medicine was always and expressly also psychosomatic. In 1992 he founded the "Academy for Integrated Medicine (AIM)" together with friends and colleagues. The aim was to overcome dualism and bring back the lost or under-presented biopsychosocial dimension of the human being in the specialist areas of medicine. Today the academy has around 180 members, mainly doctors, psychologists and nursing staff, but also physiotherapists and body therapists. Regular meetings take place in the regional groups, which to certain extent represent the nucleus of integrated medicine. Case discussions from everyday clinical practice take place against the background of the theoretical model in order to create new approaches to understanding. At the annual meetings and in model workshops there is an intensive interdisciplinary exchange, not only within medicine, but also with other specialist areas such as systems and communication sciences. The original Thure von Uexkülls model should be continuously developed so that “the patient is again in the foreground of medical thought and action”, demands Eisenreich.
Dr. phil. Marion Sonnenmoser
@ www.int-med.de
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