Exam 2 - Somatic Symptom and Dissociative Disorders

Question 1

What are somatic symptom disorders? Do patients have any control over their symptoms?

Answer 1

involve chronic physical symptoms and complaints, but contain no evidence of physical pathology
- patients have no control over their symptoms

Question 2

In somatic symptom disorders, bodily symptoms cause significant ___________ distress and ___________. Patients have no ______ over their symptoms.

Answer 2

psychological, impairment, control

Question 3

Individuals with somatic symptoms disorder have a high level of ______ about health symptoms.

Answer 3

anxiety

Question 4

What are some causes of somatic symptom disorder?

Answer 4

1. prior experiences with illness
2. negative affect (pessimism)
3. absorption (absorbed with own experience)
4. alexithymia (difficulty ID your feelings)

Question 5

What are the treatments for somatic symptom disorder?

Answer 5

1. cognitive behavioral treatment
2. medical management (SSRIs and antidepressants)

Question 6

Illness anxiety disorder, how long must symptoms occur?

Answer 6

high anxiety about having or developing a serious illness; occurs for at least 6 months

Question 7

Are there any somatic symptoms in illness anxiety disorder?

Answer 7

no, or mild if any

Question 8

What is the treatment for illness anxiety disorder?

Answer 8

1. cognitive behavioral treatment

Question 9

Conversion disorder (functional neurological symptom disorder)

Answer 9

neurological symptoms in the absence of a neurological diagnosis (ex: falling off your bike, and not being able to use your arm, but your arm isn’t injured)

Question 10

What are the three main symptoms of conversion disorder?

Answer 10

1. sensory symptoms or deficits (sensation in parts of the body are different/gone)
2. motor symptoms or deficits
3. seizures

Question 11

Symptoms of conversion disorder can usually be removed by:

Answer 11

hypnosis or narcosis

Question 12

What are the other treatments for conversion disorder?

Answer 12

1. behavioral therapy
2. cognitive-behavioral therapy
3. hypnosis

Question 13

Factitious disorder

Answer 13

person intentionally produces psychological or physical symptoms on purpose

Question 14

What is the goal of factitious disorder?

Answer 14

to obtain and maintain benefits of playing the “sick role”, want attention and sympathy

Question 15

Munchausen by proxy

Answer 15

Factitious disorder imposed on another - purposefully making someone else sick

Question 16

Malingering

Answer 16

motivated by external incentives (to get a check or get out of school, etc.)

Question 17

What are dissociative disorders?

Answer 17

disruption in normally integrated functions like consciousness, memory, identity, perception, and motor control

Question 18

Depersonalization

Answer 18

temporary loss of oneself or reality - detached feeling from themselves (some say they can see their body floating above themselves)

Question 19

Derealization

Answer 19

temporary loss of the reality of the world - detached feeling from reality (outside looking in)

Question 20

Dissociative amnesia

Answer 20

limited to a failure to recall previously stored personal information (like forgetting your name)

Question 21

What does dissociative amnesia often follow?

Answer 21

high stress

Question 22

Dissociative fugue

Answer 22

identity loss, and the assumption of new identity

Question 23

Dissociative identity disorder (DID)

Answer 23

disruption of identity characterized by two or more distinct/different identities or personality states

Question 24

What will patients with dissociative identity disorder report?

Answer 24

recurrent episodes of amnesia

Question 25

What is the post-traumatic theory of how DID develops?

Answer 25

experienced horrific abuse/trauma as a child, and dissociate so that its happening to “another person”, in which this personality follows them into adulthood

Question 26

What is the socio-cognitive theory of how DID develops?

Answer 26

enacting different social roles that are created by therapists/therapy, causing new personalities to emerge with different purposes/goals

Question 27

What are the treatments for DID?

Answer 27

1. hypnosis
2. drugs
3. integration of separate alters/personalities

Question 28

What is the difference between illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder?

Answer 28

Patients with illness anxiety disorder do not have any somatic symptoms (mild if any), and patients with somatic symptom disorder do have somatic symptoms

Question 29

What are the causes of conversion disorders?

Answer 29

1. Primary gain (escape from situation)
2. Secondary gains (attention)