/forums/mentalhealth/p/72 on gopher.createaforum.com

	Return Create A Forum - Home
	---------------------------------------------------------
	Mental Health
	https://mentalhealth.createaforum.com
	---------------------------------------------------------
	*****************************************************
	Return to: Somatic Symptoms and Related Disorders
	*****************************************************
	#Post#: 72--------------------------------------------------
	What is a somatoform disorder?
	By: BMHC Date: December 30, 2013, 8:51 pm
	---------------------------------------------------------
	Information is provided From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
	Text is available under the Creative Commons
	Attribution-ShareAlike License.
	URL of this page:
	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatoform_disorder
	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatoform_disorder
	[quote]A somatoform disorder is a mental disorder characterized
	by symptoms that suggest physical illness or injury � symptoms
	that cannot be explained fully by a general medical condition or
	by the direct effect of a substance, and are not attributable to
	another mental disorder (e.g., panic disorder).[1] In people who
	have a somatoform disorder, medical test results are either
	normal or do not explain the person's symptoms, and history and
	physical examination do not indicate the presence of a medical
	condition that could cause them. Patients with this disorder
	often become worried about their health because doctors are
	unable to find a cause for their symptoms. This may cause severe
	distress. Preoccupation with the symptoms may portray a
	patient's exaggerated belief in the severity of their
	ill-health.[2] Symptoms are sometimes similar to those of other
	illnesses and may last for several years. Usually, the symptoms
	begin appearing during adolescence, and patients are diagnosed
	before the age of 30 years.[3]Symptoms may occur across cultures
	and gender.[4] Other common symptoms include anxiety and
	depression.[3] In order for an individual to be diagnosed with
	somatoform disorder, they must have recurring somatic complaints
	for several continuous years.[3]
	Somatoform disorders are not the result of conscious malingering
	(fabricating or exaggerating symptoms for secondary motives) or
	factitious disorders (deliberately producing, feigning, or
	exaggerating symptoms) � sufferers perceive their plight as
	real. Additionally, a somatoform disorder should not be confused
	with the more specific diagnosis of a somatization disorder.
	Various laboratory tests, physical examinations, and surgeries
	on these individuals show no evidence supporting the idea that
	these exaggerating symptoms are present.[5] Mental disorders are
	treated separately from physiological or neurological disorders.
	Somatoform disorder is difficult to diagnose and treat since
	doing so requires psychiatrists to work with neurologists on
	patients with this disorder.[6] Those that do not pass the
	diagnostic criteria for a somatoform disorder but still present
	physical symptoms are usually referred to as having "somatic
	preoccupation
	The somatoform disorders are actually a group of disorders, all
	of which fit the definition of physical symptoms that mimic
	physical disease or injury for which there is no identifiable
	physical cause; as such, they are a diagnosis of exclusion. They
	are recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
	Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association as the
	following:[1]
	�
	actual loss of bodily function such as blindness, paralysis, and
	numbness due to excessive anxiety
	�
	physical complaints which do not have a medical explanation.[8]
	�
	and excessive worry about developing a serious illness. This
	disorder has recently gone under review and has been altered
	into three different classifications
	�
	�
	�
	symptom is required for at least 6 months.
	Included among these disorders are false pregnancy, psychogenic
	urinary retention, and mass psychogenic illness (so-called mass
	hysteria).
	�
	The ICD-10 classifies conversion disorder as a dissociative
	disorder.
	[/quote]
	*****************************************************