Download Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders

Psychological Disorders

Somatoform disorders are physical ailments that have no
authentic organic basis and that are due to psychological factors.

Physical symptoms for which there is to apparent physical cause

People with somatoform disorders typically seek treatment from
physicians practicing neurology, internal medicine, or family
medicine, instead of psychiatrists. Making accurate diagnoses of
somatoform disorders difficult, because the physical ailments are
sometimes hard to identify.

Diagnostic difficulties make it hard to obtain sound data on the
prevalence of somatoform disorders.

2 main types: Conversion disorders and Hypochondriasis


Commonly known as hypochondria
Characterized by excessive preoccupation
with health concerns and incessant worry
about developing physical illness

Over interpret every conceivable sign of
illness

Often appears alongside other psychological
disorders such as anxiety and depression




Characterized by a significant loss of physical
function (with no apparent organic basis), usually
in a single organ system
Changing emotional difficulties into a loss of a
specific voluntary body function
Common symptoms include partial or complete
loss of vision, hearing, partial paralysis, severe
laryngitis, or mutism, and loss of feeling or
function of limbs.
Results in a real and prolonged handicap

Personality factors: People with histrionic
personality traits (self-centered, suggestible,
excitable, highly emotional, and overly dramatic)
◦ People like this thrive on the attention they get when
they are ill


Cognitive Factors: Faulty standard of good
health; equating health with a complete absence
of symptoms and discomfort, which is unrealistic
The Sick Role


TV examples of Somatoform Disorders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VzhqKj2
8IY


In groups of 3-4 read “Distinguishing Anxiety
and Somatoform Disorders”
Discuss the situations as a group and make
your preliminary diagnosis

Disorders in which people lose contact with
portions of their consciousness or memory,
resulting in disruptions in their sense of identity

No biological explanation

Very rare

Little is known about why this extreme reaction
to stress occurs in a tiny minority of the
population, but others can experience similar
stress without the reaction



Dissociative amnesia: the inability to recall
important personal events or information; is
usually associated with stressful events
Dissociative fugue: a person suddenly and
unexpectedly travels away from home or work
and is unable to recall the past
Dissociative identity disorder: a person exhibits
two or more personality states, each with its own
patterns of thinking and behaving

Besides anxiety, how might you realize that
you are suffering from a somatoform or
dissociative disorder?