Abstract
There are many critical opinions among the members of Japanese Psychosomatic Society against the definition of psychosomatic disease that was published from the medical therapeutic committee of the society in 1970,because it contains the following vague illogical neaning which makes people so confused with diagnostic procedure. In the first place, if we would obey it, every human disease has to be called psychosomatic disorder; and secondly physical syptoms of psychiatric disease would be considered as psychosomatics. In order to surface such hidden opinions and to prepare for making a new official diagnostic standard of the disease, an enquete survey was performed for all councilors of the society. A hundred twenty doctors gave us the answer who were 64 percent of the all councilors. More than half of them replied that the word psychosomatic disease does not mean an independent unit of single disease ; it is one of pathophysiological somatic states which are caused by psychosocial stress ; thus diagnostic criteria should contain organic or functional pathological bodily changes. lt seems that the members of committee at the time of defining the disorders in 1970 had confused conceptions of psychosomatic approach to the human disease and ethiological components of psychogenic disorders from the standpoint of medical science. Author presented a new definition and diagnostic criteria of psychosomatic disease according to his own opinion. Much discussion is expected to take place among active members of the society very soon.
