What’s Old Is New Again: Psychosomatic Medicine Renamed C-L Psychiatry

The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (APM) has changed its name to the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. This follows an October 2017 action by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), acting on recommendations by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), APA, and APM. In November 2017, APM then voted to change its name to the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. The academy’s name change became effective on April 16.

The name “psychosomatic medicine” had been selected by ABMS as the subspecialty’s board-certification name during deliberations conducted between 2000 and 2003. From the beginning, there was controversy and general dissatisfaction with the name. For many years APM’s council heard concerns from members that “psychosomatic medicine” was problematic; the primary concerns were that “psychosomatic medicine” had a pejorative connotation, had a negative impact on recruitment, and was not widely used by clinicians and academic departments.

APM conducted several surveys to determine whether there was a consensus for a name change. In early 2016, a majority of APM members responded to an initial member survey; 68 percent supported a name change, 16 percent disagreed, and 16 percent were neutral. A second survey focused on how APM members were currently describing their field. The majority (55 percent) said they were using the name “consultation-liaison psychiatry”; only 17 percent said they used the term “psychosomatic medicine.” Finally, late in 2016, APM members were asked: “If other key national organizations were in favor, would you support changing the name of the field to consultation-liaison psychiatry, which would include also changing the name of the academy to mirror that term?” Of the 668 respondents, representing more than half of APM’s membership, 81 percent endorsed the name change.

With robust support from APM members documented, APM then requested and received the support of the APA Board of Trustees for a name change for the field in December 2016. The next step was to petition the ABPN, the organization within ABMS that oversees accreditation in psychiatry. In February 2017, the ABPN Board of Directors voted to support the name change. The ABPN then took this request to the ABMS, which gave its approval at its annual meeting in October 2017. Finally, APM’s council recommended that academy members support changing APM’s name to the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and at the academy’s annual meeting the following month, the members voted in favor of the change.

The new name for the subspecialty is actually the old name. Consultation-liaison psychiatry developed several decades ago at a time when most of the clinical work was in inpatient medical-surgical units. Much has changed since then, and the council is focused on finding ways to market an expanded brand that captures a broad and deep set of practice settings. The word “liaison” will be branded by the academy to mean integrated care in primary care and specialty care outpatient settings, in addition to the important work done integrating psychiatric care into inpatient medical-surgical, critical care, and rehabilitation units.

The academy will use the expansive stage of APA’s 2018 Annual Meeting to begin the process of educating psychiatrists and other physicians and the public about the name change. For example, APA TV is producing a video that will be widely seen during the meeting. APA’s Council on Psychosomatic Medicine (which also underwent a name change to the Council on Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry) will continue to work with APM after the meeting to further support the name-change process.

The theme of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry’s 2018 annual meeting, which is being held in Orlando November 13 to 17, is “Branding C-L Psychiatry: Defining the Breadth and Depth of Our Subspecialty.” The meeting will highlight the clinical, academic, and research work done in outpatient and inpatient clinical settings. The plenary sessions will be presented by the academy’s 14 Special Interest Groups (SIGs), who represent the field’s areas of expertise. Information about the academy, its SIGs, and the annual meeting is posted on the academy’s webpage—now www.clpsychiatry.org! ■

The Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry is presenting the session “Mythbusters: Consultation-Liaison Doctors Separate Medical Fact From Fiction” at APA’s 2018 Annual Meet-ing on Wednesday, May 9, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. in Room 1E07 at the Javits Center.