Recent trends in behavioral medicine.
OBJECTIVE
Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field, integrating research from a variety of disciplines. This review focuses on recent advances and developments in behavioral medicine.


RESULTS
Stress, as well as having a role in the etiology and maintenance of somatic disease and somatoform disorders, is an important factor in the behavioral medicine literature. Consequentially, recent advances in psychological interventions targeting these conditions were developed. Furthermore, a variety of psychobiological mechanistic studies investigating the dysregulations of stress axes in conditions relevant to behavioral medicine have been undertaken.


CONCLUSIONS
Studies investigating factors and processes relevant to health and illness clearly demonstrate the impact of psychosocial factors such as stress. The biopsychosocial perspective becomes increasingly sophisticated, focusing on specific disease processes and empirically tested and effective interventions.
Nater
Urs M
UM
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. unater@emory.edu
Gaab
Jens
J
Rief
Winfried
W
Ehlert
Ulrike
U
D001524:Behavioral Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011584:Psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology