title: Communication of emotional meaning, alexithymia, and somatoform disorders: a proposal for a diagnostic axis.
abstract: In this paper, a plea is made for establishing the dimension communication of emotional meaning as a descriptive axis in biopsychosocial diagnosis. Studies on alexithymia and somatic illness suggest that this dimension possesses not only diagnostic implications but also prognostic and therapeutic ones. A transactional viewpoint considering the definitions and expectations of patients, professionals and society would convert multiaxial into multidimensional diagnosis adapted to a given culture. Somatoform disorders are taken as illustration of the usefulness of the proposed dimension for further research and theorizing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lolas
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003142:Communication; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology