Overview

BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE: AN IDEA . . . As one of the first volumes on behavioral medicine, the authors and editor of this text bear special responsibility for placing the development of this new field in an historical and conceptual perspective with regard to the myriad events currently tak- ing place in biobehavioral approaches to physical health and illness. Recognizing that the basic concepts embodied in behavioral medicine are at least several thousand years old begs the question of how behavioral medicine offers not only a new perspective but a potentially more productive approach to many of the age-old problems concerning the maintenance of health and the prevention, diag- nosis, and treatment of, and rehabilitation from, illness. One must look not only at the historical antecedents of the field but also at the contemporaneous events occur- ring in related areas on the social and political as well as the biomedical and behavioral levels to fully comprehend the significance of this movement, which has designated itself "behavioral medicine. " l", C. 'c. V! The past 40 years have seen the emergence, development, and gradual decli eJof behavioral medicine's most immediate predecessor, psychosomatic medicine. Recent articles by Engel (1977), Lipowski (1977), Weiner (1977), and Leigh and Reiser (1977), attest to the frustration and concern of leading theorists in psychosomatic medicine concerning the future of this field.