The Association of Sensory Responsiveness with Somatic Symptoms and Illness Anxiety

Donja Rodic; Andrea Hans Meyer; Roselind Lieb; Gunther Meinlschmidt

doi:10.1007/s12529-015-9483-1

Anxiety Control Training

Advances in Psychiatric Treatment ◽

10.1192/apt.1.2.57 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 57-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Philip Snaith

Keyword(s):

Recovery Time ◽

Diagnostic Procedure ◽

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Acute Illness ◽

Normal Limits ◽

Muscular Tension ◽

Anxiety Control ◽

Wide Range ◽

Illness Anxiety ◽

Sedative Drugs

Anxiety pervades every aspect of human activity and experience. It is a normal state and a spur to action, but readily exceeds normal limits in intensity, duration and appropriateness to the stimulus or situation. Anxiety is manifest by the mood of fearfulness, behaviour marked by restlessness and avoidance of situations, increased arousal with insomnia, excessive preoccupation with thoughts on the theme of insecurity, and a wide range of somatic symptoms which are based on muscular tension, hyperventilation leading to paraesthesiae and faintness, and symptoms based on overactivity of the autonomic nervous system. Excessive anxiety and situational avoidance leads to diminution of performance and limitation of endeavour. In the context of physical illness, anxiety increases the distress of symptoms, may confuse diagnostic procedure, prolong recovery time from acute illness, cause failure to comply with effective treatment and promote destructive habits such as reliance on alcohol or excessive use of sedative drugs.

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Psychological Interventions for Health Anxiety and Somatic Symptoms

Zeitschrift für Psychologie ◽

10.1027/2151-2604/a000400 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 228 (2) ◽

pp. 68-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ulrike Maass ◽

Franziska Kühne ◽

Jana Maas ◽

Maria Unverdross ◽

Florian Weck

Keyword(s):

Somatic Symptom ◽

Health Anxiety ◽

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Risk Of Bias ◽

Post Treatment ◽

Psychological Interventions ◽

Treatment As Usual ◽

Illness Anxiety Disorder ◽

Illness Anxiety

Abstract. This study examined the effectiveness of psychological interventions for severe health anxiety (SHA) regarding somatic symptoms (SS) and health anxiety (HA). The databases Web of Science, EBSCO, and CENTRAL were searched on May 15, 2019, May 16, 2019, and August 5, 2019, respectively. Eighteen randomized controlled trials ( N = 2,050) met the inclusion criteria (i.e., hypochondriasis, illness anxiety disorder or somatic symptom disorder with elevated HA being assessed with validated interviews; use of standardized outcome measures). Two reviewers independently evaluated the studies’ risk of bias using the Revised Cochrane Risk-of-Bias Tool for randomized trials (RoB-2) tool. Overall, psychological interventions were significantly more effective than waitlist, treatment-as-usual, or placebo post-treatment ( gSS = 0.70, gHA = 1.11) and at follow-up ( gSS = 0.33, gHA = 0.70). CBT outperformed other psychological interventions or pharmacotherapy for HA post-treatment (Hedge’s gHA = 0.81). The number of sessions did not significantly predict the effect sizes. In sum, psychological interventions were effective for SHA, but the generalizability of the results for SS is limited, because only two high-quality trials contributed to the comparisons.

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Somatic symptom and related disorders

Textbook of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine ◽

10.1093/med:psych/9780198717942.003.0014 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 226-232

Author(s):

Martin Brüne

Keyword(s):

Somatic Symptom ◽

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Somatic Complaints ◽

Conscious Awareness ◽

Factitious Disorder ◽

Somatic Symptom Disorder ◽

Illness Anxiety Disorder ◽

Somatic Illness ◽

Illness Anxiety ◽

Somatic Symptom Disorders

Somatic symptom disorders are characterized by the presentation of somatic complaints (somatization), often, but not necessarily, in the absence of a medical explanation of these sensations. The level of concern is generally disproportionate in relation to the severity of the somatic illness. Behaviourally, somatic symptom disorder entails signals that call for help and attention from others. Evolutionary considerations of why people present with somatic symptoms in the absence of a medical cause suggest that this behaviour could reflect a strategy to manipulate others in order to evoke care. Signals that aim at eliciting care from others are more persuasive if the ‘real’ intention is hidden from conscious awareness. Thus, self-deception may be involved in the presentation of somatic symptoms. Within the spectrum of somatic symptom and related disorders, the degree of self-deception may vary from high, as in illness anxiety disorder, to relatively low, as in factitious disorder.

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Pharmacological Treatment and Neurobiology of Hypochondriasis, Illness Anxiety, and Somatic Symptoms

Hypochondriasis and Health Anxiety ◽

10.1093/med/9780199996865.003.0012 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 241-258 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kelli Jane Kerr Harding ◽

Brian A. Fallon

Keyword(s):

Pharmacological Treatment ◽

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Illness Anxiety

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Somatic Symptoms Could Describe Pediatric Anxiety in DSM-V

Pediatric News ◽

10.1016/s0031-398x(06)71470-9 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 40 (11) ◽

pp. 26

Author(s):

Heidi Splete

Keyword(s):

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Pediatric Anxiety ◽

Dsm V

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Interpersonal Stress and Poor Health

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000003 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 3-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Mette M. Aanes ◽

Maurice B. Mittelmark ◽

Jørn Hetland

Keyword(s):

Psychological Distress ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Indirect Effects ◽

Social Connectedness ◽

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Total Effect ◽

Subjective Feeling ◽

Interpersonal Stress ◽

The Relationship

This paper investigated whether the lack of social connectedness, as measured by the subjective feeling of loneliness, mediates the well-known relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress. Furthermore, a relationship between interpersonal stress and somatic symptoms was hypothesized. The study sample included 3,268 women and 3,220 men in Western Norway. The main findings were that interpersonal stress was significantly related to psychological distress as well as to somatic symptoms, both directly and indirectly via paths mediated by loneliness. The size of the indirect effects varied, suggesting that the importance of loneliness as a possible mediator differs for depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and somatic symptoms. In the case of depressive symptoms, more than 75% of the total effect was mediated through loneliness, while in the case of somatic symptoms just over 40% of the total effect was mediated through loneliness. This study supports the hypotheses that social connectedness mediates a relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress. The study also provides the first link between interpersonal stress, as measured by the Bergen Social Relationships Scale, and somatic symptoms, extending earlier research on the relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress.

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