Somatic Symptom Illnessess: Exam 3 Flashcards
Use to be called hypochondriacs. Use to convey the connection of the mind (psyche) and the body (soma). Ex: diabetes, HTN, and colitis.
Stress will cause your BP to rise, which is the reason for the HTN.
Stress can cause symptoms that are similar to a diagnostic illness. (ex: tension headaches)
Essentially the mind can cause the body either to create physical symptoms or to worsen physical illness
Psychosomatic Illness
Multiple physical complaints with no organic basis
Proposed by Freud that people can convert unexpressed emotions into physical symptoms
Hysteria
Transference of mental experiences, states into body symptoms
Somatization
What can cause hysteria and the process of somatization symptoms in a person with a Psychosomatic illness?
Stress and/or emotions can cause these symptoms. Used to convery the mind and body and states of mental illness. The mind causes the body to create physical symptoms, clients do not willfully control these symptoms, they is no control over these symptoms.
___________ of somatic symptoms, always relieves the stress, anxiety, or unacceptable emotions.
Primary Gain
an increase of attention and relief of normal responsibility and expectations when clients are ill.
secondary gains
What are the characteristics of somatic symptoms?
-Physical complaints suggest major medical illness but have no demonstrable organic basis.
-Psychological factors and conflicts seem important in initiating, exacerbating, and maintaining the symptoms.
-Symptoms or magnified health concerns are not under the client’s conscious control.
-Clients are convinced they harbor serious physical problems despite negative results during diagnostic testing.
-Clients experience these physical symptoms as well as the accompanying pain, distress, and functional limitations such symptoms induce.
-Clients do not willfully control the physical symptoms.
-Although their illnesses are psychiatric in nature, many clients do not seek help from mental health professionals.
*Cause the emotional or stressful things to decrease. Physical complaints suggest major medical illness.
Do an assessment.
Psychological factors and conflicts seem important maintain symptoms.
Symptoms or health concerns are not under the clients control, this client is saying that they believe something is wrong w us and not them. *
disorder is characterized by one or more physical symptoms that have no organic basis. Individuals spend a lot of time and energy focused on health concerns, often believe symptoms to be indicative of serious illness, and experience significant distress and anxiety about their health.
Somatic Symptom
sometimes called conversion reaction, involves unexplained, usually sudden deficits in sensory or motor function (e.g., blindness, paralysis). These deficits suggest a neurologic disorder but are associated with psychological factors. There is usually significant functional impairment. There may be an attitude of la belle indifférence, a seeming lack of concern or distress, about the functional loss.
Conversion disorder
disorder has the primary physical symptom of pain, which is generally unrelieved by analgesics and greatly affected by psychological factors in terms of onset, severity, exacerbation, and maintenance.
Pain
formerly hypochondriasis, is preoccupation with the fear that one has a serious disease (disease conviction) or will get a serious disease (disease phobia). It is thought that clients with this disorder misinterpret bodily sensations or functions.
Illness anxiety disorder
What are the types of somatic disorders?
somatic symptom
conversion
pain
illness anxiety
What is the onset and clinical course for somatic illnesses?
Symptoms often experienced in adolescence; diagnoses may not be made until early adulthood
Either chronic or recurrent
Clients go from one physician or clinic to another, or see multiple providers at once, to obtain relief of symptoms
Clients tend to be pessimistic about medical establishment
Symptoms are either chronic or recurrent in nature. They believe something is truly wrong with them, and if you as the nurse or doctor don’t believe what they believe is wrong, they will keep going places until someone does believe as they do.
What are the related disorders to somatic illnesses?
Malingering
Intentional production of false or grossly exaggerated symptoms
It is motivated by external incentives or outcomes
The person can stop the physical symptoms as soon as they get what they wanted
Factitious disorders
Munchausen syndrome:
A factitious disorder where people inflict injury on themselves for attention
Munchausen syndrome by proxy
Occurs when a person inflicts illness or injury on someone else to gain attention of medical personnel or be a “hero” for saving the victim
Malingering: ex: person who was bad out in the streets, gets locked up and tries to be better in jail. Gain: to keep from doing the prison time.
What is the etiology for somatic illnesses?
Psychosocial theories
Internalization – people with somatic symptom illnesses keep stress, anxiety or frustration inside rather than expressing them outwardly
Alexithymia – the inability to identify emotions
Primary gains – direct internal benefits that being sick provides
Secondary gains – external or personal benefits received from others because one is sick
Biological theories
Differences in regulation – the client cannot sort relevant stimuli from irrelevant stimuli and respond equally to both types
Interpretation of stimuli – the client experiences a normal body sensation but attaches a pathologic meaning to it
Culture-bound syndromes
Somatization is more common in women, because women are more likely to go receive help vs. men.
Somatic disorders commonly happen due to a traumatic experience regarding abuse, and other childhood traumas. This has a lot to do with gender roles, because a lot of men don’t tend to seak treatment and typically tend to deal with it bc that is what they are told to do. Depression is a common symptom. Must rule out that medical component.
