This study is a part of the FIP study (Functional Illness in Primary Care), conducted by The Research Group for Functional Illness in Primary Care consisting of: - The Research Clinic for Functional Disorders and Psychosomatics, Aarhus University Hospital.
Functional illness often exists without other mental illness [ 30].
However even this new classification does not aid integration and presumes that functional illness is a separate entity.
Although it seems intuitive that illnesses may arise predominantly from the psyche or the soma, functional illness initiation and progression typically involves both domains.
6 The functional illness in primary care (FIP) study found that 14.8% of patients met the criteria for BDS in a large population from primary care.
The Biopsychosocial Model aims to integrate the biological, psychological and social components of illness, but integration is difficult in practice, particularly when patients consult with medically unexplained physical symptoms or functional illness.
A biopsychosocial approach requires broad definitions of health [ 20, 21], provides a framework to address functional illness consisting of MUPS and functional somatic syndromes, as well as the importance of life events and spiritual or existential aspects of care.
First, as Kansagara et al. [ 34] noted, while there are models that incorporate covariates, few models dig deeply into the clinical, functional, illness, and overall health status measures of elders.
We propose a classification of illness that includes orthogonal dimensions of pathology and dysfunction to support a broadly based clinical approach to patients; adoption of which may lead to fewer inappropriate investigations and secondary care referrals and greater use of cognitive behavioural techniques, particularly when managing functional illness.
Interventions relating to functional mental illnesses were included, those solely about dementia, substance misuse, learning disabilities or developmental disorders were excluded.
