New 'European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine' founded.

Two scientific European organizations in the field of consultationliaison (C-L) psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine (PM), the European Association of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatics (EACLPP) and the European Network of Psychosomatic Medicine (ENPM) decided to merge and together create a new society, the European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine (EAPM). The EACLPPwas founded in 2000 as an organization for C-L psychiatrists and psychosomaticists following the collaboration of colleagues from different European countries in a series of European research projects funded by the European Community [1]. The ‘ECLW collaborative study’ was a large epidemiological study into CL psychiatry including 56 hospitals in 13 European countries and over 15,000 patients [2]. In the framework of the ‘European Risk-factor Study’ instruments like the COMPRI and the INTERMED were developed to detect patients with complex care needs [3–6]. The EACLPP organized workgroups on different topics concerning C-L psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine like workgroups on C-L in primary care, on somatoform disorders and on cultural aspects in C-L. The EACLPP workgroup on training published European Guidelines on training in C-L psychiatry and psychosomatics [7] and—together with the American Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine—a consensus statement for service delivery in the field of C-L psychiatry and psychosomatics [8]. The ENPM was a loose network of colleagues performing research in various fields of psychosomatic medicine. Members of the ENPM participated in the development of European guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of gastroenterological and cardiological diseases like the European Practice Guidelines on Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases [9]. The two organizations have a long history of collaborations and have been organizing the European Conference on Psychosomatic