About this Research Topic

Background

Psychosomatic ailments are characterised by the presence of physical symptoms that may be caused or exacerbated by psychological factors. These include symptoms of discomfort in the chest, arms, and legs, trouble breathing, anxiety about one's health, inability to sleep, etc. and can result in disorders like hvpertension, asthma, ulcers, colitis, diarrhoea, migraine headache, and lower back pain. Psychosomatic illnesses are on the rise amongst children and young adolescents, and usually develop as a result of stress. Ten percent to 25% of children and adolescents deal with psychosomatic symptoms, and those symptoms are responsible for anywhere from 27% percent to 50% of the variation in their health-related quality of life.

Unlike adults and older populations, evaluating and treating children and adolescents with psychosomatic issues remains a significant challenge for primary care clinicians. Nonetheless, they occupy a hazy space (blind spot/blurred position) in the spectrum of medical and psychological diseases affecting young people due to vast heterogeneity in their presentation, unclear explanations for whether psychiatric/psychological conditions are precursors and the underlying mechanisms driving these illnesses in young people. As a result, they are one group of illnesses that require proficiency in diagnosis and treatment. We invite high-quality research focusing on the manifestation and assessment of psychosomatic illnesses, risk and protective factors, and recent advancements in evidence-based interventions and remedies. We anticipate that encouraging studies on psychosomatic conditions in children and adolescents would prove useful for professionals, particularly pediatric primary clinicians by improving the quality diagnosis and treatment of these conditions and tailoring interventions toward the needs of this population.

This Research Topic invites empirical research articles, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analyses, and case studies including (but not limited to):

1. Development of psychosomatic conditions over time in children and adolescents with/out pre-existing psychiatry comorbidities.

2. Possible risk/causal factors, determinants, and protective factors in psychosomatic illnesses in children and adolescents.

3. Manifestation, assessment and management of psychosomatic symptoms in children and adolescents, and how these vary across cultures.

4. Association between psychosomatic symptoms and mental illness among children and adolescents and mediators/moderators of this association.

5. Psychological, psychiatric, psychotherapeutic, and pharmacological interventions for management of psychosomatic complaints in children and adolescents.

Keywords: psychosomatic, children, adolescents, intervention, remedy, manifestation, assessment

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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