Denkkulturen in psychosomatics On the change of perspectives on the enigmatic leap into the body

摘要

This article discusses a recent change within the predominant Denkkultur in the field of psychosomatic medicine in Germany. After the end of the Second World War psychosomatic medicine became a growing field within the medical landscape of Germany and was mostly incorporated into already existing medical faculties. This brought about institutional power but also required a process of adjustment to medical paradigms, research culture and Denkkulturen. The effect this process of adjustment had and still has on fundamental psychosomatic premises is discussed by means of selected articles from the Journal for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy (Zeitschrift fur Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie) using the analytical approach of discourse analysis. The significance of symptom shifts within the scientific discourse is used as an illustrative example to show that the focus of psychosomatic medicine has shifted away from traditional core perspectives of psychoanalysis. Another central topic is the disappearance of any notions concerning the linkage between individuals, society and diseases in recent psychoanalytic models; this is often substituted by a diffuse stress term. The biopsychosocial model has actually become more influential but does not do justice to the comprehensive aspirations of its own name. This unique analytical potential of psychosomatic medicine for etiological and therapeutic questions is nowadays vastly neglected but could be reactivated.