A suspected case of somatoform disorder successfully treated with an herbal medicine

Subjective physical symptoms, irrespective of whether they are psychosomatic or not, do not always show obvious or reasonable signs in examinations, which often makes the differential diagnosis between somatoform disorders and actual physical disease difficult for psychiatrists. In addition, psychiatrists have few clues as to how to treat diverse "medically unexplained" symptoms. This difficulty has highlighted the need for alternative treatments for somatoform disorders.

A 16-year-old high school baseball player was suffering from coxalgia and was unable to walk without crutches over 6 months. No painkiller was effective, the orthopedist found no remarkable signs in any examinations, and the patient was psychiatrically diagnosed with undifferentiated somatoform disorder. However, conventional therapies such as psychotherapy and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were ineffective.

The therapeutic strategy was reevaluated from the perspective of Kampo diagnostics and keishikajutsubuto, a traditional Japanese herbal (Kampo) medicine, was chosen to be prescribed, which had a remarkable effect. His leg function improved within 2 weeks, and his pain and need for crutches disappeared in 6 weeks.

Keishikajutsubuto has a different pain-relieving effect from conventional therapies. Kampo medicine thus provides an alternative approach for treating medically unexplained symptoms without strictly distinguishing between physically existing illness and psychologically caused somatoform disorders. Although details regarding the therapeutic mechanisms of Kampo medicine remain unclear and further studies are needed to increase its usefulness in clinical practice, Kampo medicine should be considered as an alternative treatment, especially for somatoform disorders.