Somatoform disorder

In most of the recent scientific and clinical literature, dissociation has been equated with dissociative amnesia, depersonalization, derealization, and fragmentation of identity. However, according to Pierre Janet and several World War I psychiatrists, dissociation also pertains to a lack of integration of somatoform components of experience, reactions, and functions. Some clinical observations and contemporary studies have supported this view. Somatoform

Objectives: To determine the frequency and pattern of mental health morbidity in children attending “Psychiatry Clinic ” in Paediatric OPD of a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at psychiatric clinic of Paediatric OPD at civil hospital Karachi. Two hundred children upto the age of 14 years were included in the study. These children were assessed by a semi-structured interview based on P-CHIPS (Child Interview for Psychiatric Syndrome) and diagnosis of various psychiatric illnesses was further confirmed by DSMIV diagnostic criteria. Results: Psychiatric disorders were more frequent in males 126 (63%) compared to females 74 (37%). Majority of patients affected were between 5-10 years of age (62.5%). Among the psychiatric disorders, oppositional defiant disorders were (20%), ADHD were (17%), elimination disorders and anxiety disorders were (11%) each. Other less frequent psychiatric problems were mood disorder, somatoform disorders, specifi...

The purpose of this study was to investigate cortisol levels as a function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in relation to alexithymia in patients with somatoform disorders (SFD). Diurnal salivary cortisol was sampled in 32 patients with SFD who also underwent a psychiatric examination and filled in questionnaires (Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS scale; Screening for Somatoform Symptoms, SOMS scale; Hamilton Depression Scale, HAMD). The mean TAS total score in the sample was 55.6±9.6, 32% of patients being classified as ...

Objective: The present research aimed to study the relationship between traumatic experiences and somatic symptoms severity in students. Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study. The study population included all students of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. The study sample consisted of 264 healthy adult university students, who were selected using a convenience sampling method. Participants were asked to fill out two self-report measures: Patient Health Questionnaire Physical Symptoms and Traumatic Experiences Checklist. The study data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. All analyses were conducted using SPSS20. Results: Based on the obtained results, a significant relationship was found between traumatic experiences and somatic symptoms severity (P<0.01). Multiple regression analysis indicated that emotional neglect significantly predicted 23% of somatic symptoms severity (P<0.001). In addition, no significant correlation was found between physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and emotional abuse with somatic symptoms severity. Conclusion: Study results indicated that traumatic experiences, especially emotional neglect, are important in the prediction of somatic symptoms severity.

Neurosis and personality disorder (PD) are two of the most used but least clarified and understood terms in psychiatry. The separation of PD by the American Psychiatric Association in DSM-III and -IV as a discrete axis of classification has been a major advance in psychiatric nosology. Also with the advent of DSM-III and its multiaxial system, it was recognized that both PD and clinical syndromes can coexist, and in some cases this coexistence may have implications on treatment response and prognosis. This study was performed on 200 neurotic patients in an attempt to investigate possible correlations between various neurotic subcategories and personality types. Our results confirm that PD and personality abnormality are significantly higher in neurotic patients than in controls and need to be considered in diagnostic assessment. Some comorbidity was shown between borderline PD and somatoform disorder; compulsive PD and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and generalized anxiety dis...

Objectives: Population studies in Western cultures agree that gender differences influence somatization, while available data on marital status are more conflicting. Previous surveys on immigrants found high levels of somatization, particularly in South/Central Americans, gender effect deserving further research. This study investigates the effect of gender and marital status on somatization in immigrants of four ethnic groups (Caucasians, Asians, South/Central Americans, and Africans). Methods: We studied 360 consecutive outpatients attending a primary care unit for immigrants. 301 completed the 21 item Bradford Somatic Inventory (BSI-21). The BSI-21 total score and the relative risk for any single symptom were studied, adjusting for major intervening variables. Results: Female gender predicted the frequency of 12 out of 21 symptoms and was associated with the total score at the BSI-21. BSI-21 scores were significantly higher in married subjects. Differences were found among the fo...

Patients with medically unexplained symptoms comprise from 15% to 30% of all primary care consultations. Physicians often assume that psychological factors account for these symptoms, but current theories of psychogenic causation, somatization, and somatic amplification cannot fully account for common unexplained symptoms. Psychophysiological and sociophysiological models provide plausible medical explanations for most common somatic symptoms. Psychological explanations are often not communicated effectively, do not address patient concerns, and may lead patients to reject treatment or referral because of potential stigma. Across cultures, many systems of medicine provide sociosomatic explanations linking problems in family and community with bodily distress. Most patients, therefore, have culturally based explanations available for their symptoms. When the bodily nature and cultural meaning of their suffering is validated, most patients will acknowledge that stress, social conditio...

Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF; formerly &#x27;electromagetic hypersensitivity&#x27;) is a medically unexplained illness in which subjective symptoms arereportedfollowingexposuretoelectrical devices.Inanearliersystematic review,wereporteddata from 31 blind provocation studies which had exposed IEI-EMF volunteers to active or sham electromagnetic fields and assessed whether volunteers could detect these fields or whether they reportedworsesymptomswhenexposedtothem.Inthisarticle,wereportanupdatetothatreview.An extensive literature search identified 15 new experiments. Including studies