Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic for Persistent Symptoms, Pasila and Meilahti

We treat patients with persistent symptoms and help them find suitable forms of rehabilitation.

Persistent symptoms manifest themselves as various multiform and diverse syndromes, which cannot be explained by somatic and psychiatric illnesses. They have various underlying load and cause factors, such as hereditary susceptibility, various stress and environmental factors, infections and other mental and somatic diseases and disorders. A crucial role is played by the sensitization of the stress system within the central nervous system, which is similar to when pain becomes chronic. Scientific understanding of the causes of persistent symptoms is constantly improving.

Our goal is to identify factors that contribute to rehabilitation and to impact them. At the clinic, we provide information about the mechanisms of persistent symptoms and how patients could recover from the symptoms.

• We provide information on and increase the understanding of functional symptoms, the mechanism of central nervous system sensitization, and on how to rehabilitate from the symptoms.
• Active interventions by physicians targeted at factors that trigger and maintain sensitized activation of the stress system, as well as active treatments in different stress system areas and a plan for the rehabilitation period.
• Rehabilitative group interventions with 6–10 sessions, led by a psychologist, a social worker, and a psychophysical physiotherapist.
• A designated online therapy for functional disorders called the “Rehabilitation program for long-term and debilitating physical symptoms”.
• Assessments and rehabilitation periods for individual patients.

Our outpatient clinic is a pioneering unit in Finland. The unit plans and implements treatment and rehabilitation of functional disorders.

Rehabilitation of persistent symptoms is provided by a multidisciplinary team of physicians representing various specialties (neurology, general medicine, occupational health, ear nose and throat diseases, and psychiatry), physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, clinical dietitians, and psychologists who provide comprehensive support for patient recovery.

Our goal is to examine, investigate and enable treatment, support and rehabilitation as well as recovery prognoses.

Functional disorders include a wide range of multiform and diverse syndromes. Their background is known to include many reasons, such as hereditary predisposition, various stress and environmental factors, infections, and other illnesses. Most commonly, a functional symptom or disorder is due to a combination of several factors. Scientific understanding of the causes of functional disorders is constantly evolving.

Research has shown that the problem is the sensitization of the central nervous system. Functional symptoms are generated in the central nervous system as reactions to challenges or threats, and the activation of the autonomic nervous system causes numerous symptoms of different organ systems, although there is no problem with the organ system itself.

Often the underlying causes cannot be completely eliminated and even the avoidance of exposure factors has not produced convincing results. In light of current knowledge, the most profitable approach is to seek effective ways of controlling symptoms.

Healing often requires that the examination cycle be broken and instead of looking for a cause, more focus is placed on rehabilitating from the symptoms and on decreasing the threat you are possibly reading into the symptoms. As a result, reactivity, fear and symptom monitoring take a back seat and your self-capacity is strengthened. Your own motivation to rehabilitate is important. The outpatient clinic has data obtained from both examinations and practical work on several patients who have recovered from functional disorders.

Treatment at our clinic requires a physician's referral. The referral should describe the patient’s own understanding of what is causing their symptoms.