Psychoform and somatoform dissociation, traumatic experiences, and fantasy proneness in somatoform disorders

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. J. Van der Boom ◽  
M. A. Van den Hout ◽  
R. J. C. Huntjens
2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 390-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Soukup ◽  
H. Papežová ◽  
A.A. Kuběna ◽  
V. Mikolajová

AbstractObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine psychometric properties of the Czech language version of the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES) [2].Method653 non-clinical participants and 162 adolescent psychiatric inpatients completed Czech versions of the A-DES and the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-20), and provided further information (data regarding demographic variables, diagnoses, further psychopathology).ResultsThe Czech A-DES has very good internal consistency, test-retest reliability and a good validity, though its predictive power is limited. The ADES scores significantly correlate with the measure of somatoform dissociation, a presence of clinician-observed dissociative symptoms, reported traumatic experiences, self injurious behavior, and polysymptomatic diagnostic picture. A-DES scores were significantly higher in ADHD group, but not in a group with a diagnosis of a dissociative disorder.ConclusionThe authors stress that all adolescent psychiatric patients who show more complex behavioral disturbances, have histories of trauma, show self-injurious behaviors or have ADHD diagnosis should be screened for dissociation.


Author(s):  
Annunziata Romeo ◽  
Valentina Tesio ◽  
Ada Ghiggia ◽  
Marialaura Di Tella ◽  
Giuliano Carlo Geminiani ◽  
...  

Children ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 274
Author(s):  
María F. Rabito-Alcón ◽  
José I. Baile ◽  
Johan Vanderlinden

Background: many people with different diagnoses, including eating disorders, have suffered traumatic experiences in childhood. Method: a case-control study was performed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of child trauma and dissociative symptoms in people with eating disorders and compare the results obtained with a control group. Participants were administered the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and the Structured Clinical Interview for Personality Disorders (SCID-II) to confirm diagnostic criteria and explore possible comorbidities. Traumatic experiences in childhood were evaluated with the Child Trauma Questionnaire in its abbreviated version (CTQ-SF), psychoform dissociation was measured with the Scale of Dissociative Experiences (DES-II) and somatoform dissociation with the Somatoform Dissociation Scale (SDQ-20). Results: women with eating disorders reported a greater severity and higher prevalence of child trauma than the control group. Significant differences were found by groups in dissociative symptoms. Conclusions: our results, in a Spanish sample, confirm the findings of previous studies.


1999 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellert R.S. Nijenhuis ◽  
Richard van Dyck ◽  
Philip Spinhoven ◽  
Onno van der Hart ◽  
Marlene Chatrou ◽  
...  

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that somatoform dissociation would differentiate among specific diagnostic categories after controlling for general psychopathology. Method: The Somatoform Dissocation Questionnaire (SDQ-20), the Dissociative Experiences Scale, and the Symptom Checklist-90-R were completed by patients with DSM-IV diagnoses of dissociative disorders (n = 44), somatoform disorders (n = 47), eating disorders (n = 50), bipolar mood disorder (n = 23), and a group of consecutive psychiatric outpatients with other psychiatric disorders (n = 45), mainly including anxiety disorders, depression, and adjustment disorder. Results: The SDQ-20 significantly differentiated among diagnostic groups in the hypothesised order of increasing somatoform dissociation, both before and after statistically controlling for general psychopathology. Somatoform dissociation was extreme in dissociative identity disorder, high in dissociative disorder, not otherwise specified, and increased in somatoform disorders, as well as in a subgroup of patients with eating disorders. In contrast with somatoform dissociation, psychological dissociation did not discriminate between bipolar mood disorder and somato form disorders. Conclusions: Somatoform dissociation is a unique construct that discriminates among diagnostic categories. It is highly characteristic of dissociative disorder patients, a core feature in many patients with somatoform disorders, and an important symptom cluster in a subgroup of patients with eating disorders., dissociation


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Thomson ◽  
S. Victoria Jaque

This study investigated the psychological effects of anxiety on professional and pre-professional dancers ( n = 73), in particular the relationships between anxiety and flow, past traumatic events, and fantasy. Results demonstrated that anxiety was statistically related to increased age, total traumatic events, increased fantasy proneness, with no association to flow. All dancers experienced moderate-to-high global flow experiences, and 75.3% of the dancers endorsed high autotelic experiences (an ability to regularly transform potential threats into positive flow experiences). In a stepwise linear regression analysis, together past traumatic events and fantasy explained 19.4% of the variance for anxiety. Greater mean scores for total traumatic events and lower autotelic flow experiences were found in the dancers with pathological levels of anxiety. Since 23.3% of the dancers endorsed clinical levels of anxiety (panic), further understanding regarding panic and anxiety in a dancer population is recommended, specifically the predictive role fantasy proneness and past traumatic experiences may play in anxiety symptomatology.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1215-1229 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pick ◽  
J. D. C. Mellers ◽  
L. H. Goldstein

BackgroundThis study aimed to extend the current understanding of dissociative symptoms experienced by patients with dissociative (psychogenic, non-epileptic) seizures (DS), including psychological and somatoform types of symptomatology. An additional aim was to assess possible relationships between dissociation, traumatic experiences, post-traumatic symptoms and seizure manifestations in this group.MethodA total of 40 patients with DS were compared with a healthy control group (n = 43), matched on relevant demographic characteristics. Participants completed several self-report questionnaires, including the Multiscale Dissociation Inventory (MDI), Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire-20, Traumatic Experiences Checklist and the Post-Traumatic Diagnostic Scale. Measures of seizure symptoms and current emotional distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) were also administered.ResultsThe clinical group reported significantly more psychological and somatoform dissociative symptoms, trauma, perceived impact of trauma, and post-traumatic symptoms than controls. Some dissociative symptoms (i.e. MDI disengagement, MDI depersonalization, MDI derealization, MDI memory disturbance, and somatoform dissociation scores) were elevated even after controlling for emotional distress; MDI depersonalization scores correlated positively with trauma scores while seizure symptoms correlated with MDI depersonalization, derealization and identity dissociation scores. Exploratory analyses indicated that somatoform dissociation specifically mediated the relationship between reported sexual abuse and DS diagnosis, along with depressive symptoms.ConclusionsA range of psychological and somatoform dissociative symptoms, traumatic experiences and post-traumatic symptoms are elevated in patients with DS relative to healthy controls, and seem related to seizure manifestations. Further studies are needed to explore peri-ictal dissociative experiences in more detail.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucía del Río-Casanova ◽  
Anabel González ◽  
Mario Páramo ◽  
Annemiek Van Dijke ◽  
Julio Brenlla

AbstractEmotion regulation impairments with traumatic origins have mainly been studied from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) models by studying cases of adult onset and single-incident trauma exposure. The effects of adverse traumatic experiences, however, go beyond the PTSD. Different authors have proposed that PTSD, borderline personality, dissociative, conversive and somatoform disorders constitute a full spectrum of trauma-related conditions. Therefore, a comprehensive review of the neurobiological findings covering this posttraumatic spectrum is needed in order to develop an all-encompassing model for trauma-related disorders with emotion regulation at its center. The present review has sought to link neurobiology findings concerning cortico-limbic function to the field of emotion regulation. In so doing, trauma-related disorders have been placed in a continuum between under- and over-regulation of affect strategies. Under-regulation of affect was predominant in borderline personality disorder, PTSD with re-experiencing symptoms and positive psychoform and somatoform dissociative symptoms. Over-regulation of affect was more prevalent in somatoform disorders and pathologies characterized by negative psychoform and somatoform symptoms. Throughout this continuum, different combinations between under- and over-regulation of affect strategies were also found.


2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 982-988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérard Näring ◽  
Ellert R.S. Nijenhuis

Objective: Some authors have suggested that the personality characteristic ‘fantasy proneness’ may mediate the correlation between reported potentially traumatizing events and dissociative symptoms. Other authors question the reported magnitude of this correlation in non-clinical samples, because these are usually derived from student samples and may therefore suffer from a restriction of range. The primary aim of this study is to assess the relationship between a self-report measure of traumatization and psychoform dissociation as well as somatoform dissociation in a non-clinical population, while accounting for the influence of fantasy proneness. Method: Two random non-clinical samples, that is, a student and an adult non-student sample, completed a range of relevant self-report questionnaires. Absorption was used as an index of fantasy proneness. Results: The range of reported potentially traumatizing events was restricted in students, compared to non-students. In both samples a significant correlation was found between reported potentially traumatizing events and dissociation. After partialling out absorption, the relationship between reported potential traumatization and psychoform dissociation diminished substantially in both samples. The magnitude of the correlation with somatoform dissociation decreased to a lesser degree, so that it remained significant in both samples. Conclusions: The correlation between somatoform dissociation and reported traumatization, after partialling out absorption, gives a reliable estimate of the magnitude of the relationships between potentially traumatizing events and dissociation. Findings regarding traumatization and dissociation in students should be generalized to the general population cautiously.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Author(s):  
Lee Ensalada

Abstract Illness behavior refers to the ways in which symptoms are perceived, understood, acted upon, and communicated and include facial grimacing, holding or supporting the affected body part, limping, using a cane, and stooping while walking. Illness behavior can be unconscious or conscious: In the former, the person is unaware of the mental processes and content that are significant in determining behavior; conscious illness behavior may be voluntary and conscious (the two are not necessarily associated). The first broad category of inappropriate illness behavior is defensiveness, which is characterized by denial or minimization of symptoms. The second category includes somatoform disorders, factitious disorders, and malingering and is characterized by exaggerating, fabricating, or denying symptoms; minimizing capabilities or positive traits; or misattributing actual deficits to a false cause. Evaluators can detect the presence of inappropriate illness behaviors based on evidence of consistency in the history or examination; the likelihood that the reported symptoms make medical sense and fit a reasonable disease pattern; understanding of the patient's current situation, personal and social history, and emotional predispositions; emotional reactions to symptoms; evaluation of nonphysiological findings; results obtained using standardized test instruments; and tests of dissimulation, such as symptom validity testing. Unsupported and insupportable conclusions regarding inappropriate illness behavior represent substandard practice in view of the importance of these conclusions for the assessment of impairment or disability.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document