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Somatoform disorder (also known as Briquet's syndrome) is characterized by physical symptoms that mimic disease or injury for which there is no identifiable physical cause or physical symptoms such as pain
Pain

Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience that may be described as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm....
, nausea
Nausea

Nausea is the sensation of unease and discomfort in the stomach with an urge to vomit....
, depression
Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by a pervasive depression , low self-esteem, and anhedonia in normally enjoyable activities....
, and dizziness
Dizziness

Dizziness describes a number of subjective symptoms, which the patient may describe as feelings of lightheadedness, floating, wooziness, giddiness, confusion, disorientation or loss of balance....
. 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.






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Somatoform disorder (also known as Briquet's syndrome) is characterized by physical symptoms that mimic disease or injury for which there is no identifiable physical cause or physical symptoms such as pain
Pain

Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience that may be described as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm....
, nausea
Nausea

Nausea is the sensation of unease and discomfort in the stomach with an urge to vomit....
, depression
Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by a pervasive depression , low self-esteem, and anhedonia in normally enjoyable activities....
, and dizziness
Dizziness

Dizziness describes a number of subjective symptoms, which the patient may describe as feelings of lightheadedness, floating, wooziness, giddiness, confusion, disorientation or loss of balance....
. 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
Factitious disorder

Factitious disorders are conditions in which a person acts as if he or she has an illness by deliberately producing, feigning, or exaggerating symptoms....
 (an unknown psychological cause for making oneself sick) or malingering
Malingering

Malingering is a medicine and psychology term that refers to an individual fabricating or exaggerating the symptoms of mental disorder or physical disorder disorders for a variety of motives, including getting financial compensation , avoiding work, obtaining drugs, getting lighter criminal sentences, trying to get out of going to school, or...
 (making oneself sick for personal or monetary gain; i.e. disability, insurance, etc). This is not at all related to the Somatoform Disorder, however.

A diagnosis of a Somatoform disorder implies that psychological factors are a large contributor to the symptoms' onset, severity and duration. It is important to note that Somatoform disorders are not the result of conscious malingering
Malingering

Malingering is a medicine and psychology term that refers to an individual fabricating or exaggerating the symptoms of mental disorder or physical disorder disorders for a variety of motives, including getting financial compensation , avoiding work, obtaining drugs, getting lighter criminal sentences, trying to get out of going to school, or...
 or factitious disorders.

Recognized Somatoform disorders

The Somatoform disorders recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides diagnostic criteria for classification of mental disorders....
 of the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association

The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential world-wide....
  are:
  • Conversion disorder
    Conversion disorder

    Conversion disorder is a condition where patients present with neurological symptoms such as numbness, paralysis, or Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, but where positive physical signs of hysteria can be found....
  • Somatization disorder
    Somatization disorder

    Somatization disorder is a medical diagnosis applied to patients who chronically and persistently complain of varied physical symptoms that have no identifiable physical origin....
  • Hypochondriasis
  • Body dysmorphic disorder
    Body dysmorphic disorder

    Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental disorder in which the affected person is excessively concerned about and preoccupied by an imagined or minor defect in their Body image....
  • Pain disorder
    Pain disorder

    Pain disorder is when a patient experiences chronic pain in one or more areas, and is thought to be caused by Stress . The pain is often so severe that it disables the patient from proper functioning....
  • Undifferentiated somatoform disorder - only one unexplained 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).

  • Somatoform disorder NOS


Proposed somatoform disorders

Additional proposed somatoform disorders are:
  • Abridged somatization disorder - at least 4 unexplained somatic complaints in men and 6 in women
  • Multisomatoform disorder - at least 3 unexplained somatic complaints from the PRIME-MD scale for at least 2 years of active symptoms


These disorders have been proposed because the recognized somatoform disorders are either too restrictive or too broad. In a study of 119 primary care patients, the following prevalences were found:
  • Somatization disorder
    Somatization disorder

    Somatization disorder is a medical diagnosis applied to patients who chronically and persistently complain of varied physical symptoms that have no identifiable physical origin....
     - 1%
  • Abridged somatization disorder - 6%
  • Multisomatoform disorder - 24%
  • Undifferentiated somatoform disorder - 79%


See also

  • Medically unexplained physical symptoms
    Medically unexplained physical symptoms

    Medically unexplained physical symptoms , or medically unexplained symptoms , is a term sometimes used in health care to describe a situation where an individual suffers from multiple physical symptoms for which the physician or other healthcare provider has found no physical cause....
  • Munchausen syndrome by proxy
    Munchausen syndrome by proxy

    Fabricated or induced illness or factitious disorders, originally and more commonly known as M?nchausen syndrome or M?nchausen syndrome by proxy , are insidious disorders in which injury is deliberately and gradually inflicted upon a person usually for gaining attention or some other benefit....


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