scholarly journals Attachment and Crying in Patients with Medically Unexplained Somatic Symptoms

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 1065-1072
Author(s):  
R. Jansman ◽  
M. M. E. Riem ◽  
S. Broekhuizen-Dijksman ◽  
C. Veth ◽  
E. Beijer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Somatic Symptom ◽  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Medically Unexplained Somatic Symptoms

AbstractMentalization deficits and disturbances in emotional functioning may contribute to somatization in patients with medically unexplained somatic symptoms (MUSS). The present study aimed to increase understanding the psychological factors that contribute to somatization by examining associations between attachment, crying attitudes and behavior, and somatic symptoms in these patients. Attachment security was measured with the Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire in sixty-eight outpatients diagnosed with MUSS. Somatic symptom severity was measured with the RAND-36, crying frequency, and attitudes with the Adult Crying Inventory. Patients were asked to evaluate photographs of crying individuals in order to assess the perception of crying and empathic responses to crying. Attachment anxiety was significantly related to somatic symptom severity and negative attitudes toward crying. In addition, somatic symptom severity was related to a more negative attitude toward crying and less awareness of the interpersonal impact of crying on others. The association between attachment anxiety and somatic symptoms was, however, not mediated by crying or negative attitude toward crying. Neither were there significant associations between attachment, somatic symptoms, and empathic responses to crying. Altered attitudes to crying may stem from a history of insecure attachment experiences and may reflect maladaptive emotion strategies in MUSS patients.

Associations Between Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Anxiety Sensitivity, Socially Prescribed Perfectionism, and Severity of Somatic Symptoms Among Individuals with Fibromyalgia

Pain Medicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hila Avishai Cohen ◽  
Gadi Zerach
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Somatic Symptom ◽  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms ◽  
Psychological Risk Factors ◽  
Stress Symptoms ◽  
Socially Prescribed Perfectionism ◽  
Psychological Risk

Abstract Objectives The contribution of psychological risk factors to the intensification of pain experienced among individuals with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is relatively under-studied. The present study aims to explore associations between FMS-related somatic symptom severity and two personality tendencies: anxiety sensitivity (AS) and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP). Furthermore, the relative contributions of these personality tendencies are examined vis-à-vis the experience of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and the psychopathology of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Methods A volunteer sample of 117 Israeli adults with FMS responded to online validated self-report questionnaires regarding their PTEs, PTSS, somatic symptom severity, FMS, AS, and SPP in a cross-sectional study. Results Participants’ self-reported PTSS rates (61.5%) were high. AS and SPP were positively related to somatic symptom severity. Interestingly, we found that PTSS positively predicted the severity of somatic symptoms above and beyond the contributions of AS and SPP. Conclusions The present study supports the assumption that psychological risk factors may affect the expression of somatic symptoms and the interpretation of pain stimulus arising in the body that might eventually be experienced as excessively painful. The study also suggests that above and beyond psychological risk factors, PTSS may express a high predominance and affect pain perception among participants with FMS.

Attachment and medically unexplained somatic symptoms: The role of mentalization

2018 ◽  
Vol 268 ◽  
pp. 108-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madelon M.E. Riem ◽  
Emmy N.E.M. Doedée ◽  
Suzanne C. Broekhuizen-Dijksman ◽  
Eugenie Beijer
Keyword(s):  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Medically Unexplained Somatic Symptoms

Medically Unexplained Somatic Symptoms in Different Cultures

1995 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohan Isaac ◽  
Aleksandar Janca ◽  
Kimberly Christie Burke ◽  
Jorge Alberto Costa e Silva ◽  
Stanley Wilson Acuda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Medically Unexplained Somatic Symptoms

scholarly journals A hierarchical classes analysis (HICLAS) of primary care patients with medically unexplained somatic symptoms

1998 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A Gara ◽  
Roxanne Cohen Silver ◽  
Javier I Escobar ◽  
Alison Holman ◽  
Howard Waitzkin
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Hierarchical Classes ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Primary Care Patients ◽  
Medically Unexplained Somatic Symptoms

CS03-04 - Concept of somatoform disorder

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1777-1777
Author(s):  
H.-P. Kapfhammer
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Somatoform Disorders ◽  
Diagnostic Category ◽  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Somatoform Disorder ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
The One ◽  
Medically Unexplained Somatic Symptoms

Patients presenting with bodily symptoms and complaints that are not sufficiently explained by organic pathology or well known pathophysiological mechanisms present a major challenge to any health delivery system. From a perspective of psychiatric classification these medically unexplained somatic symptoms may be diagnosed as primary psychiatric disorders such as depressive and anxiety disorders on the one hand, as somatoform disorders on the other. Among medical specialties a separate diagnostic approach is taken to conceptualize functional somatic syndromes. Unfortunately, both diagnostic systems do not conform to each other very well.The concept of somatoform disorders as outlined in DSM-III to DSM-IV-TR and in ICD-10 refers to a group of heterogeneous disorders with prominent somatic symptoms or special body-focussed anxieties, or convictions of illness. These disorders seem to indicate medical conditions that cannot, however, fully be explained either in terms of medical diagnostics or of other primary psychiatric disorders. There is one major conceptual assumption that postulates a decisive impact of psychosocial stress on the origin, onset and/or course of these somatic symptoms and complaints. And there is one major path of diagnostic steps to be taken, i.e. just to count the number of medically unexplained somatic symptoms, to determine their reference to any main organ system, to prove that they are not self-induced, to put special stress on prevailing pain symptoms and to separately assess dominant health anxieties or illness convictions.Since introduction of the diagnostic concept of somatoform disorders there have been arising many critical issues regarding the soundness of this diagnostic category. These issues, among other things, refer to a problematic mind-body dichotomy overemphasizing psychosocial and psychological factors and neglecting major neurobiological processes, to the impracticable criterion of “medically unexplained”, to the demand of conceptual clarity and coherence of this diagnostic category, to the rather trivial diagnostic procedure of just counting the number of medically unexplained somatic symptoms whereas not assessing typical dimensions of illness behaviour in a corresponding way, to the major overlap between subgroups of somatoform disorders on the one hand and factitious disorders, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders on the other, to a principal focus on the epidemiologically rare condition of somatisation disorder as core disorder thereby undervaluing much more prevalent subthreshold conditions, to the difficult communication of the whole diagnostic group to medical colleagues dealing with the same problems by using a different conceptual approach, however.These critical issues surrounding the concept of somatoform disorder will be reflected in respect of some major revisions projected in future diagnostic classification systems of DSM-V and ICD-11.

Syndrome stability and psychological predictors of symptom severity in idiopathic environmental intolerance and somatoform disorders

2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSEF BAILER ◽  
MICHAEL WITTHÖFT ◽  
CHRISTIANE BAYERL ◽  
FRED RIST
Keyword(s):  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Somatic Symptom ◽  
Somatoform Disorders ◽  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Psychological Predictors ◽  
Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance ◽  
Somatosensory Amplification ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Environmental Intolerance

Background. Previous studies suggest that idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) is a variant of somatoform disorders (SFDs) or the so-called functional somatic syndromes. Little is known, however, about the stability and the psychological predictors of IEI.Method. This prospective study examined the 1-year stability of somatic symptoms and IEI features in three diagnostic groups: 49 subjects with IEI, 43 subjects with SFD but without IEI, and 54 subjects (control group, CG) with neither IEI nor SFD. The predictive value of typical psychological predictors for somatization was tested using zero-order correlations and multiple linear regression analyses.Results. Somatic symptoms and IEI features proved to be temporally stable over the 1-year follow-up period. The SFD and IEI groups scored significantly higher than CG on all measures of somatic symptoms and on questionnaires assessing psychological predictors for somatization. Measures of trait negative affectivity (NA), somatic symptom attribution and somatosensory amplification predicted somatic symptom severity within the IEI and SFD groups, both at baseline and 1 year later. The strongest predictors of IEI complaints in the IEI group were somatic attributions, followed by prominent cognitions of environmental threat and a tendency to focus on unpleasant bodily sensations and to consider them as pathological.Conclusions. IEI and SFD are highly stable conditions. In both SFD and IEI, NA and the processes of symptom perception, interpretation and attribution contribute substantially to the persistence of typically somatoform symptoms and IEI complaints. Treatment of IEI and SFD should address these psychological factors and mechanisms.

Association of costs with somatic symptom severity in patients with medically unexplained symptoms

2013 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Konnopka ◽  
Claudia Kaufmann ◽  
Hans-Helmut König ◽  
Dirk Heider ◽  
Beate Wild ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Somatic Symptom ◽  
Medically Unexplained Symptoms ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Unexplained Symptoms

scholarly journals Case Report: Somatic Symptoms Veiling Gender Dysphoria in an Adolescent

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliana Morabito ◽  
Dora Cosentini ◽  
Gianluca Tornese ◽  
Giulia Gortani ◽  
Serena Pastore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Gender Dysphoria ◽  
Somatic Symptom ◽  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Hospital Services ◽  
Somatic Symptom Disorder ◽  
Case Presentation ◽  
Psychosocial Impairment ◽  
History Of

Background: Somatic symptom disorder is common in children and adolescents; usually, it is an expression of a mental health problem or other conditions that lead to psychosocial impairment and suffering. Among these, in pubertal age, gender dysphoria should be considered.Case Presentation: We present the case of a 15-year-old girl admitted to the hospital because of a 2-month history of scattered arthralgia and myalgia, headache, and fatigue, with repeated visits to the emergency room. The physical exam was unremarkable, except for step walking and pain. Repeated diagnostic tests were normal, and consecutive psychological interviews disclosed intense suffering due to a gender incongruence. Referral to the hospital gender service was offered and refused by the parents.Conclusions: In pubertal age, gender dysphoria may be expressed through somatoform symptoms. Diagnosis is challenging to accept for the parents even in the presence of adequate multi-disciplinary hospital services.

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