Patients presenting with somatoform disorders often incur excessive health care charges and fail to respond to standard treatment. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the diagnostic criteria and demographic and clinical characteristics of each somatoform disorder and to examine the research assessing the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for each disorder. The ...

BACKGROUND The primary aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of a comprehensive self-help guidebook on the disease related quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The secondary aim was to evaluate whether the guidebook is less effective in IBS patients with depression, somatization disorder or panic disorder as a psychiatric comorbidity. METHODS Prospective obs...

PURPOSE Somatization is a common symptom among the elderly, and even though personality disorders have been found to be associated with somatization, personality traits have not yet been explored with regard to this symptom. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between personality traits and somatization, and social inhibition. PATIENTS AND METHODS As part of a cross-secti...

Functionalism, as generally understood, is not included in DSM-III-R. It differs from somatization and hysteria. Analysis of cases of functional overlay indicates the presence of a fixed attitude--depending on body-image distortion, feelings of injustice toward the existing medicolegal methodology, social and economic impairment, anger against legal delays, and a conviction of the futility of t...

The patient doesn’t always explicitly communicate his or her anxiety and fear surrounding a clinical diagnosis to the physician. This anxiety can lead to requests for increased testing or frequent patient encounters. Although this behavior is most pronounced in somatization disorder, it can emerge with any health concern. Personal interaction, patience, and active listening will help patients r...

BACKGROUND The Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ) is a self-report questionnaire that has been developed in primary care to distinguish non-specific general distress from depression, anxiety and somatization. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate its criterion and construct validity. METHODS Data from 10 different primary care studies have been used. Criterion validity was asses...

BACKGROUND Psychological factors are associated with functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Literature suggests that somatization is associated with functional dyspepsia (FD). However, the relationship between organic dyspepsia (OD), FD, and FD subtypes and somatization is poorly described. We aimed to examine this issue in a cross-sectional study of secondary care patients. METHODS Demo...

This is the first study to investigate the influence of depression, anxiety and somatization on the treatment response for lower urinary tract symptoms/benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH). The LUTS/BPH patients were evaluated with the Korean versions of the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale ...

Somatization mechanisms are poorly understood. The authors tested whether somatization might involve altered central nervous system information processing. They measured somatization using the Somatization Sensation Inventory (SSI) and information processing style using the Hyperarousal Scale, scores of which correlate with electroencephalogram(EEG) measures of cortical electrical responsivenes...