Somatic disorders

• Somatic/somatoform disorders:

  • Somatisation disorder
  • Conversion disorder
  • Illness anxiety disorder (hypochondriasis)
  • Factitious disorder
  • Body dysmorphic disorder
• Somatisation disorder:

  • 1 or more somatic symptom that are distressing e.g. pain, SOB
  • Excessive thoughts, feelings or behaviours related to the physical symptoms
  • Excessive time and energy spent on the symptoms or health concerns
  • Treatment = regular visits with trusted healthcare professional, monitor health and symptoms and avoid unnecessary tests and treatments
  • Antidepressant or anti-anxiety medications can be useful if patient is also experiencing significant depression or anxiety
• Illness anxiety disorder:

  • Constantly worrying about their health - preoccupied with having or getting an illness
  • May frequently check themselves for signs of illness and take extreme precautions to avoid health risks
  • Unlike somatisation disorder - person with illness anxiety disorder generally does not experience physical symptoms
• Conversion disorder:

  • Also called functional neurological symptom disorder
  • Symptoms affect a person's perception, sensation or movement with no evidence of a physical cause
  • May have numbness, blindness, or trouble walking
  • Symptoms tend to come on suddenly, may last for a long time or go away quickly
  • People with conversation disorder also frequently experience depression and anxiety disorders
• Factitious disorder:

  • Producing or faking physical or mental illness
  • Some people may intentionally make a minor illness worse
  • A person with factitious disorder may also create an illness or injury in another person, such as faking the symptoms of a child in their care
  • The benefit to the person is the occupy the "sick role" and receive care
  • If a person creates as illness in order to obtain a material benefit such as getting compensation, this is malingering which is not a psychiatric diagnosis