title: Taxonomic subgroups within psychosomatic disease entities: an alternative strategy to the specificity approach?
abstract: There are empirical indications that the well-known weaknesses of the different psychosomatic specificity theorems are linked to their presupposition of a one-to-one relationship between one specific psychosocial configuration and one definite disease entity. An alternative conceptualization is offered: The majority of the psychosocial phenomena found within a definite disease entity fall into a small group of perhaps half a dozen different patterns. Only a minority of cases show a high variation with many different patterns - some even individually unique. This alternative concept demands different research strategies and methods which are provided by taxometrics. This is illustrated with examples from a follow-up study of anorexia nervosa.
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D011779:Q-Sort