This open access book sets out the stress-system model for functional somatic symptoms in
children and adolescents. The book begins by exploring the initial encounter between the
paediatrician child and family moves through the assessment process including the
formulation and the treatment contract and then describes the various forms of treatment that
are designed to settle the child's dysregulated stress system. This approach both provides a
new understanding of how such symptoms emerge - typically through a history of recurrent or
chronic stress either physical or psychological - and points the way to effective assessment
management and treatment that put the child (and family) back on the road to health and
well-being.
