Psychosomatic Medicine in Korean Medical Practice : Past, Present and Future

Seo, Jeong Seok

Abstract

It has passed 20 years since the first conference of the Korean Psychosomatic Society(KPMS) had been held. Therefore, it seems that it is the appropriate time to evaluate the current status and to look back the history of the Korean psychosomatic medicine in three aspects, clinical treatment, education, and research, and to make a plan for the future. Of the three areas, the clinical practice of Korean psychosomatic medicine will be discussed. As the past, I reviewed the historical background and development of KPMS, and the proposals presented at the first conference of KPMS in 1992. As the present, I presented the short stories about the psychosomatic clinic in Japan, Germany, and USA, to compare it with the present status of Korean one. And finally I made careful proposals for the future of the Korean psychosomatic medicine.