Commentary: Lessons on functional diseases

Kenneth Neville's case raises the question whether we should teach general practitioners and medical students about functional oesophageal disorders.1 This question is particularly important now that most medical schools are implementing a problem based or case based curriculum. The philosophy of these courses is to focus on key concepts and reduce detail in the subject matter. Conditions such as rumination syndrome will not be considered important and will be omitted.

Interestingly, major medical textbooks also show a deficiency in this area. For example, the last editions of Harrison's Principles of …