2020 Volume 60 Issue 3 Pages 234-240
This article outlines the treatment that the author performs for psychogenic fever or functional hyperthermia. In the treatment of psychogenic fever, what is important is an individualized prescription for the patient's stress, and not follow-ups without a prospect for improvement, repeated tests, or administration of antipyretics. Therefore, monotherapy is insufficient, and a multidimensional approach is often necessary. Specifically, approaches are combined as needed, such as patient education of the disease, daily-living guidance, adjustments of the environment, psychotherapy via verbal and non-verbal methods, psychophysiological techniques (relaxation training), pharmacotherapy, and treatment of comorbid conditions. To understand the pain of patients accompanying fever, I ask them, “What difficulties do you have when your body temperature increases?” Furthermore, I use the disease name of functional hyperthermia instead of psychogenic fever if the patients deny the psychogenic cause of their condition or if the term “psychogenic” can be stigmatizing to the patients or their families.
