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Presidential Address: Psychosomatic Medicine and Biodefense Preparedness—A New Role for the American Psychosomatic Society

From the Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, MIT, Boston, Massachusetts.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Steven E. Locke, MD, 10 Deer Run, Wayland, MA 01778. E-mail: slocke{at}hms.harvard.edu

Biodefense preparations in the United States have focused mostly on improving biosurveillance and hospital surge capacity in the event of an outbreak or a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) event. However, what if an invisible bioweapon or dirty bomb was released in a major population center, or if avian flu took hold with sustained human to human transmission? Suddenly, we need to combine efforts from psychosomatic medicine and general medicine with public health practice to triage nonexposed patients with somatic symptoms from those with medical sequelae resulting from hazardous exposures. This would better enable the limited acute care resources to be directed to those most in need of urgent medical care. Furthermore, psychosomatic medicine experts are potentially important players in biodefense planning related to risk communication and health education strategies in a WMD scenario or outbreak in which individuals must make informed choices about their need for immediate medical attention.

Key Words: public health • biodefense • terrorism • bioterrorism • outbreak • pandemic

Abbreviations: WMD = weapons of mass destruction; APS = American Psychosomatic Society; PDBPR = Psychosocial Dimensions of Biodefense Preparedness and Response; CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; DHHS = Department of Health and Human Services; SAMHSA = Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; DOD = Department of Defense; SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome.