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Psychosomatic Disorder - Psychosomatic Disorder Symptom, Cause, Treatment
Psychosomatic or Somatoform disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders found in general practice. However, the term psychosomatic disorder is mainly used to mean "a physical disease which is thought to be caused, or made worse, by mental factors . Some physical diseases are thought to be particularly prone to be made worse by mental factors such as stress and anxiety. They can influence not only the cause of the illness, but can also worsen the symptoms and affect the course of the disorder. In some cases of somatoform disorders, a physical disease is present that might explain the occurrence but not the severity or duration of the physical symptoms.Alexander's specificity theory postulates that specific unresolved psychological conflicts are accompanied by prolonged arousal of specific autonomic (sympathetic or parasympathetic) nervous system components and result in dysfunction and disease of the target organ. The most commonly diagnosed somatoform disorders are somatization disorder, conversion disorder, hypochondriasis, body dysmorphic disorder, and pain disorder (see Pain: Psychogenic Pain ). Physical symptoms caused by mental factors are discussed further in a another leaflet called 'Somatization and Somatoform Disorders'.
Symptoms of Psychosomatic Disorder
- Stomach and gastrointestinal functional problems.
- Dizziness.
- Sleeping disorders.
- Like other forms of anxiety, panic symptoms in diabetic patients are often associated with depression as well as poor diabetes-related functional and clinical indicators.
- Sexual or reproductive symptoms, including pain during intercourse, menstrual problems, and erectile dysfunction are also necessary features for a diagnosis for somatization disorder.
Treatment of Psychosomatic Disorder
- However, healthcare workers will usually try and treat a person as 'a whole' and take into account mental and social factors which may be contributing to a disease.
- According to one study, patients with somatization disorder who took the antidepressant nefazodone (Serzone) showed reductions in physical symptoms, increased activity levels, and lower levels of anxiety and depression at the end of treatment.
- Psychotherapy of psychosomatic disorders effects: Relaxation of the overactivated and stimulation of the desactivated, a shift of the patient's exclusively somatic attribution of the disease to a psychosomatic one, more efficient coping strategies, a break-up of the pattern "conflict - emotion - vegetative irritation - physiologic reaction".
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