We often get people asking questions about Psychosomatic Medicine and its practical applications in health psychology.

In short, psychosomatic medicine/psychosomatic science is the study and practice of integrating mind, brain, body and social context into medicine.

Investigators working in psychosomatic medicine study a wide variety of topics ranging from psychological interventions and behavioral risk factors to autonomic nervous system physiology, neuroscience and human social genomics to integrate scientific advances from each of these different fields, seeking to understand how it is that the brain influences the body.

Where does APS come in?

APS works to increase awareness of this scientific study of mind-body or brain-behavior relationships, and in so doing, eliminate the negative connotations around the term ‘psychosomatic’ and encourage appreciation of the scientific rigor that underlies what is generally referred to as mind-body medicine.

The Society also works to make sure that the knowledge generated through scientific inquiry is accessible for all clinicians so that it may be applied clinically to help improve human health.

It is generally understood that how you’re feeling connects to how you are physically, and vice versa. The strong science behind it, and the fact that basic and clinical scientists use rigorous methods to understand those connections – that is psychosomatic medicine.

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