Papers of the Week

Patients with somatic symptom disorder (SSD) often receive targeted intervention only after a long duration of illness. Moreover, the reported effect-sizes of interventions for SSD are small. Therefore, improvement and evaluation of interventions are needed. Preliminary evidence suggests autonomic imbalance, e.g. lower heart rate variability (HRV) in SSD. HRV biofeedback (HRV-BF) as a method for self-regulation shows initial positive effects in chronic pain and functional syndromes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a brief HRV-BF intervention for SSD.