Brief interventions for psychophysiological symptoms in hospitalized addicted patients.

The problem of psychosomatic complaints in newly sober substance abusers is longstanding. While somatic symptoms are common in withdrawal generally, some patients experience symptoms which prevail to the point of distracting from the treatment of the addiction. This paper illustrates brief, collaborative interventions conducted in a treatment hospital for three such patients who had significant, persistent, and common psychosomatic difficulties: migraine, insomnia, and hypertension. The importance and utility of holistic, multimodal treatment of the patient is emphasized.