- Somatoform disorder
Somatoform disorder (also known as Briquet's syndrome) is characterized by physical symptoms that mimic disease or injury for which there is no identifiable physical cause [Somatoform Disorders [http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/s/somatoform_disorders/intro.htm] ] or physical symptoms such as
pain ,nausea , depression, anddizziness . Somatoform disorders are physical symptoms which present as part of a general medical condition. However, no general medical condition, other mental disorder, or substance is adequately diagnosed. The complaints are serious enough to cause significant emotional distress and impairment of social and/or occupational functioning. An inadequate diagnosis might be the result of inconclusive or faulty test results or in some cases intentional malpractice in which a caregiver deliberately mishandles a patient's health care to derive some benefits.A diagnosis of a somatoform disorder implies that psychological factors are a large contributor to the symptoms' onset, severity and duration. It is important to note that somatoform disorders are not the result of conscious
malingering orfactitious disorders .Recognized somatoform disorders
The somatoform disorders recognized by the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of theAmerican Psychiatric Association are:
*Conversion disorder
*Somatization disorder
*Hypochondriasis
*Body dysmorphic disorder
*Pain disorder
*Undifferentiated somatoform disorder - only one unexplained symptom is required for at least 6 months.Included among these disorders are false pregnancy, psychogenic urinary retention, and mass psychogenic illness (so-called mass hysteria*Somatoform disorder NOS
Proposed somatoform disorders
Additional proposed somatoform disorders are:
* Abridged somatization disordercite journal |author=Escobar JI, Rubio-Stipec M, Canino G, Karno M |title=Somatic symptom index (SSI): a new and abridged somatization construct. Prevalence and epidemiological correlates in two large community samples |journal=J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. |volume=177 |issue=3 |pages=140–6 |year=1989 |pmid=2918297 |doi=] - at least 4 unexplained somatic complaints in men and 6 in women
* Multisomatoform disordercite journal |author=Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, deGruy FV, "et al" |title=Multisomatoform disorder. An alternative to undifferentiated somatoform disorder for the somatizing patient in primary care |journal=Arch. Gen. Psychiatry |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=352–8 |year=1997 |pmid=9107152 |doi=] - at least 3 unexplained somatic complaints from the PRIME-MD scale for at least 2 years of active symptomsThese disorders have been proposed because the recognized somatoform disorders are either too restrictive or too broad. In a study of 119 primary care patients, the following prevalences were foundcite journal |author=Lynch DJ, McGrady A, Nagel R, Zsembik C |title=Somatization in Family Practice: Comparing 5 Methods of Classification |journal= |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=85–89 |year=1999 |pmid=15014690 |doi=] :
*Somatization disorder - 1%
* Abridged somatization disorder - 6%
* Multisomatoform disorder - 24%
* Undifferentiated somatoform disorder - 79%ee also
*
Medically unexplained physical symptoms
*Munchausen syndrome by proxy References
reflist
External links
* [http://www.familydoctor.org/162.xml What it is and how to cope at familydoctor.org]
* [http://www.psychological.com/somatofom_disorders.htm Psychological.com article on Somatoform Disorders]
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