Table 1 Contents of 20 sessions of the CBT for patients with somatoform disorders
From: Early response in cognitive-behavior therapy for syndromes of medically unexplained symptoms
Module/Session | CBT for chronic MUS |
|---|---|
1/1 | Therapeutic targets Exploration patient’s illness beliefs; developing therapeutic targets |
2/2–3, 16–19 | Stress management training Psychoeducation: distress and physical symptoms; stress management and relaxation techniques |
3/4–6 | Refocusing attention training Psychoeducation: relationship between attention and physical symptoms; focusing exercises to shift attention away from physical symptoms |
4/7–11 | Cognitive restructuring of symptom-related dysfunctional cognitions Psychoeducation: dysfunctional thoughts and physical symptoms; identifying individuals’ dysfunctional symptom-related thoughts; strategies of reappraisal and cognitive restructuring; behavioral experiments (symptom induction) for questioning dysfunctional symptom-related thoughts |
5/12–15 | Changing illness behaviors Psychoeducation: illness behaviors and physical symptom; symptom inductions tasks/exposure exercises and cognitive strategies to reduce avoidance behaviors and doctor-shopping |
6/20 | Explanatory model and relapse prevention Summary of therapy contents in an individual explanatory model of MUS; relapse prevention |