SOMATIC SYMPTOPS AND RELATED DISORDER AND DISSOCIATIVE DISORDER

Somatic symptom disorders

preoccupation with an

individual’s health or appearance becomes so great that it

dominates their lives. Exaggerates the slightest physical

symptom. Soma means body.

Dissociative disorders

dissociation or dissociative

experiences; people experience alterations, or detachments,

in consciousness or identity. (“This isn’t really me,” or “That

doesn’t really look like my hand,” or “There’s something

unreal about this place.”

Hysterical neurosis.

Somatic symptom and dissociative

disorders are strongly linked historically and share common

features.

Somatic Symptom Disorder

known

before as Briquet’s syndrome. People with somatic

symptom disorder do not always feel the urgency to take

action but continually feel weak and ill, and they avoid

exercising, thinking it will make them worse. One or more

physical symptoms are relatively severe and are associated

with anxiety and distress

Physical symptoms

pain, breathlessness,

headache and paralysis, etc.

predominant pain

(previously pain

disorder): This specifier is for individuals whose

somatic complaints predominantly involve pain.

hypochondriasis

Preoccupation with fears of

having or acquiring a serious illness.

Care-seeking type

Medical care,

including physician visits or undergoing

tests and procedures, is frequently used.

Care-avoidant type

Medical care is rarely

used.

disease conviction

difficult-to-shake belief

where individuals mistakenly believe they have a

disease.

Koro

Chinese belief that severe anxiety and

sometimes panic, that the genitals are retracting into

the abdomen. (mostly males)

Dhat

Indian belief that they are losing semen,

something that obviously occurs during sexual

activity that results to dizziness, weakness, and

fatigue.

Africa

hot

sensations in the head or a sensation of something

crawling in the head.

Pakistan and India

sensation of burning in the

hands and feet.

Functional

refers to a symptom without an

organic cause.

Astasia-abasia

walking began to deteriorate, including

weakness in legs and difficulty keeping balance, with the

result that an individual fell often. Until they cannot walk

anymore.

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures

people have

seizures, which may be psychological in origin, because

no significant electroencephalogram (EEG) changes can

be documented.

Globus hystericus

sensation of a lump in the throat

that makes it difficult to swallow, eat, or sometimes talk.

La belle indifference

patients with

conversion reactions had the same quality of

indifference to the symptoms thought to be

present in some people with severe somatic

symptom disorder.

Factitious disorders

fall somewhere between

malingering and conversion disorders. Symptoms are under

voluntary control, as with malingering, but there is no obvious

reason for voluntarily producing the symptoms except,

possibly, to assume the sick role and receive increased

attention.

Factitious disorder imposed on another

formerly known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Individual deliberately makes someone else sick.

(e.g. mother injecting her own urine into the child’s

intravenous line so that she could take care of him.)

Psychological Factors Affecting Other Medical

Conditions

presence of a diagnosed medical condition

such as asthma, diabetes, or severe pain clearly caused by

a known medical condition such as cancer that is adversely

affected (increased in frequency or severity) by one or more

psychological or behavioral factors

Pseudocyesis

A false belief of being pregnant that

is associated with objective signs and reported

symptoms of pregnancy

DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS

trigger from extremely

stressful event, such as an accident; trauma and sleep

deprivation. One “dissociates” from reality.

Depersonalization

perception alters so that you

temporarily lose the sense of your own reality, as if you were

in a dream and you were watching yourself.

Derealization

your sense of the reality of the external world

is lost. Things may seem to change shape or size; people

may seem dead or mechanica

Disintegrated experiences

Cannot remember why we are

in a certain place or even who we are. Lose our sense that

our surroundings are real. Finally, begin thinking we are

somebody else—somebody who has a different personality,

different memories, and even different physical reactions,

such as allergies we never had.

Other symptoms

Looking at the world through a

fog, did not hear part of conversation, finding familiar

place strange and unfamiliar, staring off into space;

unaware of time, can’t remember if just did

something or thought it, do usually difficult things

with ease/ spontaneity, act so differently/feel like two

different people and talk out loud to oneself when

alone

Dissociative Amnesia

severe

dissociative disorders where there is an inability to recall

important autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic

or stressful nature, that is inconsistent with ordinary

forgetting.

Generalized Amnesia

People who are

unable to remember anything, including who

they are. Lifelong or may extend from a period

in the more recent past, such as 6 months or a

year previously

Selective Amnesia

a failure to

recall specific events, usually traumatic, that

occur during a specific period.

Dissociative Trance

Sudden changes in personality

accompany a trance or “possession”. Often associated with

stress or trauma. Prevalent worldwide, usually in a religious

context; rarely seen in Western cultures. More common in

women than in men.

Amok

Western culture belief that individuals in this

trancelike state often brutally assault and sometimes

kill people or animals. If the person is not killed

Running Amok

individual enters a trancelike state

and suddenly, imbued with a mysterious source of

energy, runs or flees for a long time. (prevalent in

women)

Pivloktoq

running amok term for Arctic Natives

Frenzy witchcraft

Navajo tribes’ term for running

amok

Alters

generally seemed to be another person

entirely or separate identities.

host” identity

The person who becomes the

patient and asks for treatment. Attempt to hold

various fragments of identity together but end up

being overwhelmed. The original personality.

Switch

transition from one personality to another,

instantaneously

Dissociative trance

This condition is characterized by an

acute narrowing or complete loss of awareness of immediate

surroundings that manifests as profound unresponsiveness

or insensitivity to environmental stimuli.