Understanding the "worried well".

The burden of giving a diagnosis to patients who have no discernible clinical findings is often frustrating and anxiety provoking for the primary care clinician. This frustration is magnified when that patient returns on a frequent basis. These patients have been called the worried well, but there is no good CPT code for this diagnosis. Smith et al (1) have taken a novel approach to evaluating patients who are frequent users of primary care services.

Protean nature of mass sociogenic illness : from possessed nuns to chemical and biological terrorism fears.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Episodes of mass sociogenic illness are becoming increasingly recognised as a significant health and social problem that is more common than is presently reported.

AIMS:

To provide historical continuity with contemporary episodes of mass sociogenic illness in order to gain a broader transcultural and transhistorical understanding of this complex, protean phenomenon.

METHOD:

Literature survey to identify historical trends.

RESULTS:

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