title: The classification of digestive problems into "organic" and "functional" should not be abandoned: a surgical point of view.
abstract: To avoid the two pitfalls of medicine, it is essential to maintain the distinction between "functional disorders" and "organic diseases." Medicalization consists in forgetting the suffering of a patient and focusing on a sick organ. This is incorrect scientifically, because it dismisses the complexity of science by deleting many variables at work, and of course it is a very inhumane way to practice medicine. Conversely, psychiatrization runs the risk of rationalization by forgetting the reality of the body. Functional disorders can be observed and the abnormalities measured by various objective ways; a positive finding does not imply there is a lesion, because many psychophysiological links have been demonstrated. Moreover, secondary gains lead some patients either to lie or submit to unnecessary surgery.
authors.affiliation: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Devroede
mesh_terms: D004066:Digestive System Diseases / Q000145:classification*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders; D013001:Somatoform Disorders