Enhancing the health of somatization disorder patients. Effectiveness of short-term group therapy.

To identify an effective method of treating patients with somatization disorder (SD), the authors conducted a randomized controlled clinical trial of group therapy with 70 SD patients. Primary care physicians treating all patients in the study received a consultation letter offering treatment recommendations for SD. The experimental patients were invited to attend eight group therapy sessions in addition to the consultation provided to their physicians; 45% attended one or more sessions. The experimental patients reported significantly better physical (P < 0.05) and mental (P < 0.01) health in a 1-year period during and after group therapy. The more group sessions SD patients attended, the greater the improvement in general and mental health. The 52% net savings in health care charges associated with group therapy plus the consultation indicate that it is economically feasible to improve outcomes without escalating the cost of care in this group of high users of medical resources.