Aitken R C
Br Med J. 1972 Nov 4;4(5835):285-7. doi: 10.1136/bmj.4.5835.285.
This paper reviews some problems in the methodology of clinical psychosomatic research. Its emphasis is on elucidation of symptoms rather than on aetiology of disease and on diagnosis and treatment of known psychopathology, particularly mood disturbance, rather than on underlying speculative mechanisms. Reliability, sensitivity, and validity of measurements are considered to be the keys to advance of knowledge in this field. Samples of patients studied must be representative of a disease, and not of other factors which contribute bias to the observations. Account must be taken of the wide variability found in most measures required in psychosomatic patients, and hence of their lack of specificity to an individual patient.
本文回顾了临床心身研究方法学中的一些问题。其重点在于症状的阐释而非疾病的病因，在于已知精神病理学（尤其是情绪障碍）的诊断和治疗，而非潜在的推测机制。测量的可靠性、敏感性和有效性被视为该领域知识进步的关键。所研究的患者样本必须代表一种疾病，而非那些会给观察结果带来偏差的其他因素。必须考虑到心身疾病患者所需的大多数测量中存在的广泛变异性，以及因此它们对个体患者缺乏特异性的情况。
