chapter 6 quiz

Question 1

Somatic symptom disorders

Answer 1

excessive or maladaptive response to physical symptoms or health concerns

Question 2

Types of Disorders

Answer 2

• Somatic Symptom Disorder
• Illness Anxiety Disorder
• Psychological Factors Affecting Medical Condition
• Conversion Disorder
• Factitious Disorder

Question 3

Somatic symptom disorder

Answer 3

• Presence of one or more somatic symptoms
  *Symptom is often medically unexplained
• Excessive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
  related to the symptoms (e.g., excessive thoughts
  about seriousness of the symptom, frequent
  complaints and requests for help, health-related
  anxiety, excessive research)
• Substantial impairment in social or occupational
  functioning

Question 4

Illness Anxiety Disorder

Answer 4

• Very similar to DSM-IV hypochondriasis

Clinical description:
- Severe anxiety about the possibility of having
or acquiring a serious disease
- Actual symptoms are either very mild or absent
- Strong disease conviction
- Medical reassurance does not seem to help

Question 5

Causes of Somatic Symptom Disorders

Answer 5

• Consistent overreaction to physical signs and
  sensations
• Cause is unlikely to be found in isolated biological
  or psychological factors
• Genetic component is present
• May have learned from family to focus anxiety on
  physical sensations

Question 6

Three additional factors that may contribute to

etiology

Answer 6

• Stressful life events
• Illness in family during childhood
• Benefits of illness (e.g., sympathy, attention)

Question 7

Somatic Symptom Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder

Answer 7

• Findings from family and genetic studies: Link
  between severe forms of somatic symptom
  disorder and antisocial personality disorder
• Shared features
• Often begin early in life
• Chronic and difficult to treat
• More common in lower SES
• Linked to substance abuse and interpersonal
  problems
• disinhibition/impulsivity
  
  • Individuals with somatic symptom disorder impulsively
    seek sympathy and other benefits of illness
    Different manifestations of impulsivity
• Somatic symptom disorder: Dependence
• Antisocial personality disorder: Aggression
• Gender difference:
• ASPD much more common in males
• SSD more common in females

Question 8

IAD vs. SSD

Answer 8

Illness Anxiety Disorder:

• Fear of disease
• Scientific in reporting data
• Limited complaints – often a fear of one disease

Somatic Symptom Disorder:

• Fear of symptoms
• Describes symptoms vaguely
• Varied complaints – often fear of many symptoms

Question 9

Conversion Disorder

Answer 9

• Full name: Conversion Disorder (Functional
  Neurological Symptom Disorder)
• Key feature: Altered motor or sensory function
  that is inconsistent with neural/medical conditions
  and not better explained by another disorder
• Could be feeling a lump in the throat that
  interferes with swallowing, etc…
• Often suggestive of neurological problem, but
  no such problem is detected
• Must cause significant distress/impairment

Question 10

Factitious Disorders

Answer 10

• Purposely faking physical symptoms
• May actually induce physical symptoms or just
  pretend to have them
• No obvious external gains
• Only external gain may be benefit of “sick role”
  (e.g., sympathy)
• Distinguished from malingering, in which physical
  symptoms are faked for the purpose of achieving a
  concrete objective (e.g., getting paid time off,
  avoiding military service)

Question 11

Factitious Disorder Imposed on

Another

Answer 11

• More commonly known as Munchausen
  syndrome by proxy
• Inducing symptoms in another person
• Typically a caregiver induces symptoms in a
  dependent (e.g. child)
• Purpose = receive attention or sympathy