Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T01:43:23.626Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Somatoform and dissociative disorders: assessment and treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The category ‘somatoform disorders' was introduced comparatively recently in DSM–III and thereafter in ICD–10: it is the umbrella term currently favoured to cover a heterogeneous group of interrelated and overlapping syndromes, which have been given many names over the years. All these syndromes have in common the process of somatisation: that is, the presence of physical symptoms unexplained by physical disease, with variable degrees of distress and loss of function, about which the patient consults doctors.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1997 

References

Bass, C. & Murphy, M. (1995) Somatoform and personality disorders: Syndromal comorbidity and overlapping developmental pathways. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 39, 403427.Google Scholar
Chalder, T. (1993) Coping with Chronic Fatigue. Lincoln, UK: Sheldon Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. (1992) A classification of psychological distress for use in primary care settings. Social Science and Medicine, 35, 189193.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D., Gask, L. & O'Dowd, T. (1989) Treatment of somatization: Teaching techniques of reattribution. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 33, 697703.Google Scholar
Guthrie, E., Creed, F. H., Dawson, D. et al (1991) A controlled trial of psychological treatment for the irritable bowel syndrome. Gastroenterology, 100, 450457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
House, A. (1995) The patient with medically unexplained symptoms: Making the initial psychiatric contact. In Treatment of Functional Somatic Symptoms (eds Mayou, R., Bass, C. & Sharpe, M.) pp. 89102. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Klimes, I., Mayou, R., Pearce, J. et al (1990) Psychological treatment for atypical chest pain: A controlled evaluation. Psychological Medicine, 20, 605611.Google Scholar
Moorey, S. (1996) Cognitive behaviour therapy for whom? Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 2, 1724.Google Scholar
Pilowsky, I. (1967) Dimensions of hypochondriasis (the Whitely Index). British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 8993.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. (1989) Somatic problems. In Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Psychiatric Problems (eds Hawton, K., Salkovskis, P., Kirk, J. et al), pp. 235276. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sanders, D. & Goodwin, S. (1993) Coping with Chest Pain. Oxford: John Radcliffe Hospital.Google Scholar
Sharpe, M. (1995) Cognitive behavioural therapies in the treatment of functional somatic symptoms. In Treatment of Functional Somatic Symptoms (eds Mayou, R., Bass, C. & Sharpe, M.) pp. 122143. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sharpe, M. & Bass, C. (1992) Pathophysiological mechanisms in somatization. International Review of Psychiatry, 4, 8197.Google Scholar
Sharpe, M., Bass, C. & Mayou, R. (1995) An overview of the treatment of functional somatic symptoms. In Treatment of Functional Somatic Symptoms (eds Mayou, R., Bass, C. & Sharpe, M.) pp. 6686. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sharpe, M., Hawton, K., Simkin, S. et al (1996) Cognitive behaviour therapy for the chronic fatigue syndrome: A randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal, 312, 2226.Google Scholar
Smith, G. R., Monson, R.A. & Ray, D. C. (1986) Psychiatric consultation in somatization disorder: A randomized controlled study. New England Journal of Medicine, 314, 14071413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, G. R., Rost, K. & Kashner, T. M. (1995) A trial of the effect of a standardised psychiatric consultation on health outcomes and costs in somatizing patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52, 238243 Google Scholar
Speckens, A., van Hemert, A. M., Spinhoven, P. et al (1995) Cognitive behavioural therapy for medically unexplained physical symptoms: A randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal, 311, 13281332.Google Scholar
Vinestock, M. (1996) Risk assessment. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 2, 311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, E., Gelfand, A. N., Gelfand, M. D. et al (1995) Medical and psychiatric symptoms in female gastroenterology clinic patients with histories of sexual victimisation. General Hospital Psychiatry, 17, 8592.Google Scholar
Zigmond, A. S. & Snaith, R. P. (1983) The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 361370.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.