Somatoform Disorders

Question: What r the suspected casual factors of anxiety,dissociative somatoform,schizophrenia & personality disorders? Im kind of confused o how to explain this..can someone please help!:) !thanks A lot!!!

Answer: wow. how about picking one? neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine, past abuse, invalidating environments, genetic predisposition, other environmental triggers, attachment problems, nutritional deficiencies, etc.

Question: can someone explain to me the characteristics that make dissociative disorders different from somatoform ones?

Answer: There are four types of dissociative disorders: depersonalization disorder, dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, and dissociative identity disorder. Depersonalization disorder is a consistent feeling of being detached from yourself. Dissociative amnesia means selective forgetting after prolonged trauma. Dissociative fugue is unexpectedly and suddenly leaving home, often accompanied by amnesia or assumption of a new identity. Dissociative Identity Disorder (aka Multiple Personality Disorder) is, well...self-explanatory. The five categories of somatoform disorders are conversion, somatization, hypochondriasis, pain, and body dysmorphic disorders. Conversion disorder is the physical expression of psychological symptoms, (usually as neurological symptoms) whereas somatization is the same thing, but for disorders of non-neurological expression. The other 3 are mostly common knowledge.

Question: Is bipolar disorder and somatoform disorder the same or can a person have both? What is affective disorder?

Answer: Affective disorder is a mental disorder characterized by a consistent, pervasive alteration in mood, and affecting thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Somatoform disorder is a condition in which the physical pain and symptoms a person feels are related to psychological factors. These symptoms can't be traced to a specific physical cause. In people who have somatoform disorder, medical test results are either normal or don't explain the person's symptoms. People who have this disorder may have several medical evaluations and tests to be sure that they don't have another illness. They often become very worried about their health because they don't know what's causing their health problems. Their symptoms are similar to the symptoms of other illnesses and may last for several years. People who have somatoform disorder are not faking their symptoms. The pain that they feel is real. So it is not the same as Bipolarity but you can have both at the same time.

Question: Somatoform and Dissociate Disorders ? Discussion for Module Five Talk about convenient! A person who is dissatisfied with his/her marriage disappears for several months and is diagnosed as experiencing a fugue state. Another person rapes a woman and, in court states they have no recollection of the event. In another situation, a person murders another and claims they didn’t do it. They claim it was another person whose personality was embedded within them. What leads you to either believe in or dispute the validity of any of these diagnoses?

Answer: LiL Butterfly, This time you have chosen a subject with some diverse answers! To assist you, I shall discuss the various disorders in order that you may be aware how they present in the affected patient. There are four major somatoform disorders. They are conversion disorder (also known as hysteria), hypochondriasis, somatization disorder, and somatoform pain disorder. In conversion disorder, the primary symptom is often a lack or change in physical functioning. The diseased often react with an attitude of indifference, showing an amazing lack of concern. In addition, there may be an awareness of the gains possible through the use of the symptom, which may prolong the symptom. The symptoms group in three types - Sensory Symptoms - These include anesthesia, excessive sensitivity to strong stimulation (hyperanesthesia), loss of sense of pain (analgesia), and unusual symptoms such as tingling or crawling sensations. Motor Symptoms - In motor symptoms, any of the body's muscle groups may be involved: arms, legs, vocal chords. Included are tremors, tics (involuntary twitches), and disorganized mobility or paralysis. Visceral Symptoms - Examples are trouble swallowing, frequent belching, spells of coughing or vomiting, all carried to an uncommon extreme. In both sensory and motor symptoms, the areas affected may not correspond at all to the nerve distribution in the area. Hypochondriasis is unlike conversion disorder where an individual perceives a functional disorder and simply uses it to escape from uncomfortable situations, hypochondriacs have no real illness, but are overly obsessed with normal bodily functions. They read into the sensations of these normal bodily functions the presence of a feared disease. The afflicted magnifies small irregularities in bodily functions, real or imagined, and then express concerns over their general health. Focus may lie on a changing area of the bodily system or be specific, such as a certain believed lung condition. Usually, the individual seeks opinions of many physicians and take pleasure in criticizing their methodology when they are diagnosed as perfectly healthy. Dissociative disorders include four recognized varieties: psychogenic amnesia, psychogenic fugue, multiple personality, and depersonalization disorder. Again, these are highly publicized in the media but they are relatively rare. Amnesia is the temporary or permanent loss of a part or all of their memory. When this is due to extreme psychosocial stress, it is labeled psychogenic amnesia. This stress is most often associated with catastrophic events. There are four sub-categories of psychogenic amnesia: localized amnesia, selective amnesia, generalized amnesia and continuous amnesia. Localized Amnesia is most often an outcome of a particular event. The disease renders the afflicted unable to recall the details of an usually traumatic event, such as a violent incestual rape. This is undoubtably the most common type of amnesia. As it's name implies, Selective Amnesia is similar to localized amnesia except that the memory retained is very selective. Often a person can remember certain general occurences of the traumatic situation, but not the specific parts which make it so. Generalized and Continuous Amnesia are less common forms of amnesia and are defined as when the diseased either forgets the details of an entire lifetime, or as in the case of continuous amnesia, they can't recall the details prior to a certain point in time, including the present. Psychogenic Fugue is recognized as an independent clinical syndrome. A fugue is simply the addition to generalized amnesia of a flight from family, problem, or location. In highly uncommon cases, the person may create an entirely new life. Multiple Personality is defined as the occurence of two or more personalities within the same individual, each of which during sometime in the person's life is able to take control. This is not often a mentally healthy thing when the personalities vie for control. It is important to note that often the personalities are very different in nature, often representing extremes of what is contained in a normal person. Sometimes, the disease is assymetrical, which means that what one personality knows, the others inherently know. Depersonalitation disorder is the continued presence of feelings that the person is not oneself or that they can't control their own actions. While these are common human feelings, it is labeled a disorder when it is recurrent and impairs social and occupational function. One symptom is a change in the person's perception of themselves. The disease may incur strange feelings that one's limbs are not shaped or sized correctly. It also may cause a sense of being outside of one's body. While self-awareness is extremely distorted, "reality-testing functions" remain intact which denotes an absence of delusions or hallucinations. The person perceives others as mechanical or as if they existed in a dream. The aff

Question: I have been studying stress related disorders for my research.? The list is so wide and complex. Chronic Fatigue syndrome , Fibromyalgia , Somatoform disorders , headache , migraine , skin disorders like itching , scaling of skin , psoriasis , heart trouble , blood pressure , diabetes , elevated cholesterol , acidity , Irritable bowel syndrome , sexual dysfunction , joint pains , reduced immunity system and associated disorders and the list can go on where the stress contributes substantially in case of these disorders. Problem is that there is no quick solution and the worst part is most of the doctors do not take cognizance of the psychological factor in treating these disorders and just treat symptoms.

Answer: i agree with you, but i am unsure what you are asking. my mom has Fibromyalgia and could hardly even get any information from her doctor. many support groups and doctors later (and 13+ years) she has learned enough about it and how to manage it. she couldn't get a doctor to prescribe more than something for pain. which is actually not advisable for obvious reasons. diet is important. when she changed her diet -not sure of everything she has done but i know fish oil is in there *gag*- she noticed a huge difference in how often she was down and out. and she even had high energy levels. in her research she found that this disease can not only be a product of stress but lacking the proper type of sleep. -where i think sleeping pills that are specific to the need might actually help prevent this disease by treating sleep disorders early. and who knows, maybe it would even take care of symptoms by giving the body something it is lacking after the condition has already set in. i imagine a lot of other conditions and diseases could be handled more appropriately if the underlying issue was dealt with and not just the symptoms. so that's my 2 cents, not too sure what you were asking though :)

Question: How does one know if one has somatoform disorder?

Answer: You find out by excluding physical causes to account for your symptoms. Specific characteristics of somatization disorder include the following: * Onset of unexplained medical symptoms in persons younger than 30 years * Multiple and chronic complaints of unexplained physical symptoms * Multiple pain symptoms involving multiple sites, such as the head, neck, back, stomach, and limbs * At least 2 or more unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea and indigestion * At least 1 sexual complaint and/or menstrual complaint * At least 1 pseudoneurological symptom, such as blindness or inability to walk, speak, or move Primary somatoform disorders may be associated with a heightened awareness of normal bodily sensations. This heightened awareness may be paired with a cognitive bias to interpret any physical symptom as indicative of medical illness. Autonomic arousal may be high in some patients with somatization. This autonomic arousal may be associated with physiologic effects of endogenous noradrenergic compounds such as tachycardia or gastric hypermotility. Heightened arousal also may induce muscle tension and pain associated with muscular hyperactivity, as is seen with muscle tension headaches Somatoform disorder is a condition in which the physical pain and symptoms a person feels are related to psychological factors. These symptoms can not be traced to a specific physical cause. In people who have Somatoform disorder, medical test results are either normal or don't explain the person's symptoms. People who have this disorder may undergo several medical evaluations and tests to be sure that they do not have an illness related to a physical cause or central lesion. Patients with this disorder often become very worried about their health because the doctors are unable to find a cause for their health problems. Their symptoms are similar to the symptoms of other illnesses and may last for several years. People who have Somatoform disorder are not faking their symptoms. The pain that they feel is real, and they feel what they say they are feeling. A person faking their symptoms may have factitious disorder (an unknown psychological cause for making oneself sick) or malingering (making oneself sick for personal or monetary gain; i.e. disability, insurance, etc). This is not at all related to the Somatoform Disorder, however. No one knows exactly why symptoms of somatoform disorder appear. In some cases, there may be a problem with the nerve impulses that send signals of pain, pressure and other unpleasant sensations to the brain. We do know that the pain and problems caused by somatoform disorder are real, they are not imagined. Like many medical problems, somatoform disorder often runs in families. It tends to come and go over time. Treatment focuses on helping the person who has somatoform disorder to live a normal life as much as possible, even though he or she may still have some pain or other symptoms. Fortunately, somatoform disorder will not shorten a person's life. The female-to-male ratio has been estimated to be 10:1 for somatization disorder. Hope that helps.

Question: Briefly summarize the psychological disorders are classified and the role of the DSM IV and these major classe classes anxiety disorders, dissoclative disorders, somatoform disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia, Personality disorders.

Answer: The clinical area of psychology, counseling, and psychiatry is quite large and this is the primary role of the DSM IV. When a professional uses terms such as bipolar, schizophrenia, OCD, etc. to describe the characteristics that an individual exhibits, the DSM IV acts as a "leveling device" in that the characteristics associated with a particular disorder and that has been researched, validated, and recognized by the American Psychological Association, will be included in the most recent edition of the DSM.

Question: What is the earliest age for developing somatoform/conversion disorders? Could a baby develop a conversion disorder before 15-18 months of age? Specifically small seizure-like episodes of some sort. Thanks! The baby is actually me... I've been experiencing "seizures" since I was a baby. My first one that I remember was around 15-16 months, and I remember being completely unsurprised by it, leading me to assume I had it well before then. also, I have sensory integration issues and lights, colors, movements, and particularly sounds (even worse in combination with the other three) seems to trigger this. I never lose consciousness and they are brief, but I'm going in to see a neurologist and I hope that by mentioning that these have been happening since before 15 months I won't be brushed off as a conversion disorder patient. Seizure-like episodes combined with my other vague symptoms lead some people to believe I have a somatoform or conversion disorder, and while some symptoms might be I can't believe I'm making up being this sick. =/

Answer: It would be extraordinarily rare to see a conversion disorder in a child younger than elementary school age. In infancy - not a chance. If you are seeing seizure like episodes in an infant - it is highly likely that there is neurological dysfunction of some sort. ~M~

Question: somatoform disorder, any good websites, or insight on symptons?

Answer: http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx94.h… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatizatio… http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/… http://www.depression-guide.com/somatofo… http://ezinearticles.com/?Somatoform-Dis…

Question: Would constant fantasizing about oneself being ill, killed or suicided be considered a somatoform disorder? I meant to ask this in class today but we were out of time. Since next class we'll be covering another chapter I thought I'd ask here. I know what somatoform disorders are, but for people who just fantasize/daydream (on a constant basis...not just once in a while)about being severely ill/hurt/dying/or committing suicide considered to have a somatoform disorder (like hypochondriasis)? Or would that be classified under a different disorder? Would that even be considered a disorder at all? I'm assuming that it's some kind of psychological disorder because most people wouldn't like to think of horrific things happening to themselves all the time. And for people who do, I'm referring to people who constantly do this and receive some kind of enjoyment out of it.

Answer: No it isn't a disorder at this level. If you don't work on what is in front of you who knows. I would focus on how the fantasies turn out. In other words, when you have these fantasies how do they end? Example: I get in a terrible car accident that leaves me in a coma. What happens next? If it ends with attention that is what you desire. Example: love ones and friends stand at my bedside wishing.... "Why do I want attention?" There are many reasons people have these fantasies to understand why you have them will give you the answer. Go through the fantasy and take notice of what is the part you enjoy and why you enjoy it.