SWAlexander
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By David Tuller, DrPH
In 2020, I wrote a post about a paper, published by the journal Rheumatology Advances in Practice, called “Medically explained symptoms: A mixed methods study of diagnostic, symptom and support experiences of patients with lupus and related systemic autoimmune diseases.” The corresponding author was Melanie Sloan, a researcher in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Cambridge University.
The name was a play on the problematic construct of “medically unexplained symptoms” (MUS)—a shorthand for anything that clinicians cannot identify as a known pathophysiological disorder. Other common terms used to describe this category of illnesses include “somatic symptom disorder,” “persistent physical symptoms,” and “bodily distress syndrome,” among others. More recently, the term “functional disorders” appears to be eclipsing the use of MUS.
Previously, terms like “psychosomatic” and “psychogenic” were more often used, but health care professionals recognized that many patients found those terms dismissive and insulting—and rightly so. Notwithstanding changes in terminology, many in the medical field still generally regard these conditions as largely psychological or psychiatric in nature, with cognitive behavior therapy and related interventions often recommended as treatments.
In the 2020 study, Sloan and her co-investigators analyzed data from 233 lupus patients to an online questionnaire. From the start of symptoms, the mean time to obtaining a lupus diagnosis was reported to be almost seven years. Three out of four respondents said they had received at least one misdiagnosis along the way. According to the study, “mental health/non-organic misdiagnoses constituted 47% of reported misdiagnoses and were indicated to have reduced trust in physicians and to have changed future healthcare-seeking behaviour.”
continue reading: https://virology.ws/2025/03/31/tria...ychiatric-misdiagnoses-of-rheumatic-diseases/
In 2020, I wrote a post about a paper, published by the journal Rheumatology Advances in Practice, called “Medically explained symptoms: A mixed methods study of diagnostic, symptom and support experiences of patients with lupus and related systemic autoimmune diseases.” The corresponding author was Melanie Sloan, a researcher in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Cambridge University.
The name was a play on the problematic construct of “medically unexplained symptoms” (MUS)—a shorthand for anything that clinicians cannot identify as a known pathophysiological disorder. Other common terms used to describe this category of illnesses include “somatic symptom disorder,” “persistent physical symptoms,” and “bodily distress syndrome,” among others. More recently, the term “functional disorders” appears to be eclipsing the use of MUS.
Previously, terms like “psychosomatic” and “psychogenic” were more often used, but health care professionals recognized that many patients found those terms dismissive and insulting—and rightly so. Notwithstanding changes in terminology, many in the medical field still generally regard these conditions as largely psychological or psychiatric in nature, with cognitive behavior therapy and related interventions often recommended as treatments.
In the 2020 study, Sloan and her co-investigators analyzed data from 233 lupus patients to an online questionnaire. From the start of symptoms, the mean time to obtaining a lupus diagnosis was reported to be almost seven years. Three out of four respondents said they had received at least one misdiagnosis along the way. According to the study, “mental health/non-organic misdiagnoses constituted 47% of reported misdiagnoses and were indicated to have reduced trust in physicians and to have changed future healthcare-seeking behaviour.”
continue reading: https://virology.ws/2025/03/31/tria...ychiatric-misdiagnoses-of-rheumatic-diseases/