Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders Flashcards
What are somatic symptom and related disorders?
Somatic Symptom Disorder (replaces Somatization Disorder)
Illness Anxiety Disorder (replaces hypochondirasis)
Conversion Disorder – also called Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder
Factitious Disorder: Imposed on self or Imposed on other colloquially known as Munchausen’s Syndrome and Munchausen’s by proxy)
What are some interventions for somatic symptom disorder?
All conditions are psychosomatic (ie. influenced by the mind-body). However some conditions respond better to physical interventions (e.g., Cancer) and some conditions respond better to psychological interventions (e.g., Depression).
Psychotherapy can be very helpful for Cancer patients but is rarely given in isolation of other medical interventions/therapies.
Medical interventions such as healthy diet and exercise can be very helpful for patients with Depression but are rarely given instead of or in isolation from psychotherapy or psycho-pharmacotherapy.
Getting an accurate diagnosis increases the probability of appropriate and effective treatment.
What is a somatic disorder?
A mental disorder with persistent and clinically somatic complaints
This is coupled with excessive thoughts, feelings and rash behaviors about the symptoms
Ranges from mild to severe
Somatic means body
What are 4 somatic symptom disorders?
Complex somatic symptom disorder
Factitious Disorder
Conversion Disorder
Somatic Symptoms (not otherwise specified)
What is the criteria for diagnosis of somatic symptom and related disorders?
One or more somatic symptoms:
- Excessive thoughts
- Feelings
- Behaviors that relate to somatic symptoms (or associated w/ health concerns)
- Headaches
- Stomachaches
- Even as severe as blindness, or inability to walk
Somatic symptom does not have to always be present but must be persistent
What are functional somatic syndromes?
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
ME/CFS,
Migraine headache
What is the prevalence of somatic symptom disorder?
1 to 21% in younger adults
10 to 20% in middle age adults
1.5 to 13% in older adults
What are biological/environmental factors of somatic symptom disorder?
Most well known causes:
- stress or exposure to trauma
Strong correlation between anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms
What is conventional treatment for somatic symptom disorder?
Psychotherapy
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
What are challenges when treating someone with somatic symptom disorder?
Convincing patient it is not an actual medical symptom is not an easy
For factitious disorder - you actually treat the behavior, not the illness
What is conversion disorder (hysteria)?
a condition in which a person experiences physical and sensory problems, such as paralysis, numbness, blindness, deafness or seizures, with no underlying neurologic pathology
What is factitious disorder?
Factitious disorder is a condition in which a patient intentionally falsifies medical or psychiatric symptoms. Symptoms can be self-induced or fabricated.
