Co-Morbid Anxiety and Physical Disorders: A Possible Common Link with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome

As we stated in a previous book chapter titled “Somatic conditions intrinsic to anxiety disor‐ ders” [1], Johann Christian August Heinroth (1773-1843) was the person who introduced for the first time the term ‘psychosomatic’ into medical literature. The psychosomatic approach offers an overall or holistic “body and mind” perception that can be often useful for preven‐ tion purposes. Unfortunately, up to the present day Heinroth’s contributions to the develop‐ ment of medicine and psychosomatics have been little acknowledged. Possibly, the current medical tendency towards specialisation makes it difficult to embody such paradigms in current psychiatric and medical nosology.