[Psychophysiology and behavioral medicine. Reformulation of the psychosomatic approach]

A view on psychosomatic research is presented, based ona simplified version of general systems theory. Taking into account the difficulties derived from energetic and economic theories of affect, it is suggested that the three main relevant systems in the psychosomatic approach -person, two-persons, and group- could be studied resorting to the distinction between overt and covert behavior. This distinction is based on the position of the observer, which, along with the specification of the system under study and of the relationships between systems, constitutes an integral part of any general theory of behavior. Although the question concerning the usefulness of concrete, abstract and conceptual systems is left open, it is suggested that the system person might be profitably studied as a concrete system, thus granting an unified approach which could be provisorily defined as psychophysiological. Here the term is meant to imply a broad background to behavioral medicine, one of the major tenets being the notion of the information processing paradigm. From this viewpoint, affect is viewed as an aspect of information-processing mechanisms operating in living systems. Although the position outlined is primarily descriptive, it is contended that it might solve the difficulties posed by the "practical dualism" which has pervaded psychosomatic research, and lead as well empirically testable hypotheses related to the mechanisms responsible for psychophysiological dysfunction. From a broad notion of behavioral medicine, discrepancies derived from the use of apparently differing languages in psychosomatic research may be avoided.