Current Trends of Psychosomatic Medicine in China

mon physical diseases, and the interaction between physical diseases and mental disorders find little consideration in our country. The 12-month prevalence rates for mental disorders are between 10 and 20% [2, 3] . This is contrasted by a comparatively low care capacity with qualified personnel in the mental health field. In the current country report, the WHO specifies for China a distribution key for mental health care of 1.53 psychiatrists for 100,000 inhabitants with a strong urban-rural gap [4] . It is imperative to improve the training of psychiatrists and psychologists. One decisive step in the right direction was the Mental Health Law, which became effective on May 1, 2013. It specifically demands the establishment of a psychiatric and psychosomatic consultation and liaison service in the general hospital. In 2015, the General Office of China’s State Council published the 2015–2020 National Mental Health Work Plan which focuses on the recognition and treatment of ‘severe mental illnesses’ such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and mental retardation. However, psychosomatic medicine and the interactions The 24th World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine will be held in Beijing in 2017. We are looking forward to this event. Psychosomatic medicine as part of a patient’s health care is not well developed in China. The relationship between mind and body according to the biopsychosocial model is hardly investigated. In addition to the letter to the editor by Yuan et al. [1] of 2015 in this journal, we would like to report about additional clinical and research developments in the field of psychosomatic medicine in China.