Person-Centred Integrative Diagnosis: Conceptual Bases and Structural Model

Objectives: To review the conceptual bases of Person-centred Integrative Diagnosis (PID) as a component and contributor to person-centred psychiatry and medicine and to outline its design and development. Method: An analysis was conducted of the historical roots of person-centred psychiatry and medicine, tracing them back to ancient Eastern and Western civilizations, to the vicissitudes of modern medicine, to recent clinical and conceptual developments, and to emerging efforts to reprioritize medicine from disease to patient to person in collaboration with the World Medical Association, the World Health Organization, the World Organization of Family Doctors, the World Federation for Mental Health, and numerous other global health entities, and with the coordinating support of the International Network for Person-centered Medicine. Results: One of the prominent endeavours within the broad paradigmatic health development outlined above is the design of PID. This diagnostic model articulates science and humanism to obtain a diagnosis of the person (of the totality of the person's health, both ill and positive aspects), by the person (with clinicians extending themselves as full human beings), for the person (assisting the fulfillment of the person's health aspirations and life project), and with the person (in respectful and empowering relationship with the person who consults). This broader and deeper notion of diagnosis goes beyond the more restricted concepts of nosological and differential diagnoses. The proposed PID model is defined by 3 keys: broad informational domains, covering both ill health and positive health along 3 levels: health status, experience of health, and contributors to health; pluralistic descriptive procedures (categories, dimensions and narratives); and evaluative partnerships among clinicians, patients, and families. An unfolding research program is focused on the construction of a practical guide and its evaluation, followed by efforts to facilitate clinical implementation and training. Conclusions: PID is aimed at appraising overall health through pluralistic descriptions and evaluative partnerships, and leading through a research program to more effective, integrative, and person-centred health care.</p

Psychosomatic and Person-Centered Medicine

Psychosomatics involves an important approach to medical care that is connected to a holistic theoretical perspective as well as a practical guide to clinical work. To this effect, this paper briefly reviews psychosomatics within the framework of holistic theory and care, which happens to be one of the key concepts of person-centered medicine (PCM). Next, the paper considers the basic notions of person-centered medicine and the way this has evolved historically from ancient civilizations through modern medicine. The conceptualization of PCM is further approached from a systematic study organized by the International College of Person Centered Medicine. After that, the paper focuses on person-centered psychiatry in general and then more specifically on person-centered diagnosis both as a theoretical model and as a practical guide