Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders
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33 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Somatoform Disorders | disorders that appear to be physical or medical but are due to psychosocial factors. Somatoform disorders are psychological disorders masquerading as physical problems |
| Hysterical Somatoform | People with hysterical somatoform disorders suffer actual changes in physical functioning. Often hard to distinguish from genuine medical problems. Must be distinguished from patterns in which individuals are faking medical symptoms |
| Conversion disorder | When a psychosocial conflict or need is converted into dramatic physical symptoms that affect voluntary or sensory functioning. Symptoms often seem neurological, such as paralysis, blindness, or loss of feeling. They usually appear suddenly and are thought to be rare. |
| Somatization disorder | To receive a diagnosis, a patient must have multiple ailments that include several pain symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, a sexual symptom, and a neurological symptom. Patients often describe their symptoms in dramatic and exaggerated terms. Many also feel anxious and depressed, this disorder often runs in families and begins between adolescence and late adulthood. |
| Malingering | Intentionally faking illness to achieve external gain. |
| Factitious Disorder | People with this disorder often go to extreme lengths to create the appearance of illness. May give themselves medications to produce symptoms. Patients often research their supposed ailments and become very knowledgeable about medicine, many undergo painful testing or treatment, even surgery. |
| Munchausen | An extreme and chronic form of factitious disorder |
| Munchausen syndrome by proxy | a related disorder, parents make up or produce physical illnesses in their children. When children are removed from their parents, symptoms disappear. |
| Preoccupation somatofrom disorder | Hypochondriasis and body dysmorphic disorder |
| Hypochondriasis | People with Hypochondriasis unrealistically interpret bodily symptoms as signs of serious illness. Ofter their symptoms are merely normal bodily changes, such as occasional coughing, sores, or sweating |
| Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) | Have a deep and extreme concern over an imagined or minor defect in their appearance. |
| Behavioral view | Behavioral theorists propose that the physical symptoms of hysterical disorders brings rewards to sufferers. May remove individual from an unpleasant situation, May bring attention to the individual. In response to such rewards, people learn to display symptoms more and more. |
| Cognitive View | Cognitive theorists propose that hysterical disorders are a form of communication, providing a means for people to express difficult emotions. Like psychodynamic theorists, cognitive theorists hold that emotions are being converted into physical symptoms. This conversion is not to defend against anxiety but to communicate extreme feelings. |
| How are Somatoform Disorders Treated? | People with somatoform disorders usually seek psychotherapy as a last resort. Individuals with preoccupation disorders typically receive the kinds of treatments applied to anxiety disorders: Antidepressant medication, Exposure and response prevention (ERP) |
| Dissociative Disorders | Syndromes that feature major losses or changes in memory, consciousness, and identity, but do not have physical causes |
| Dissociative Amnesia | Unable to recall important information, usually of an upsetting nature, about their lives. The loss of memory is much more extensive than normal forgetting and is not caused by organic factors. Very often an episode of amnesia is directly triggered by a specific upsetting event |
| Dissociative Fugue | Forget their personal identities and details of their past, but also flee to an entirely location |
| Dissociative identity disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder) | Develops two or more distinct personalities-Sub personalities each with a unique set of memories, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions |
| Dissociative Disorders | Dissociative symptoms are often found in cases of acute and post traumatic stress disorders |
| Localized (circumscribed) | Most common type; loss of all memory of events occurring within a limited period |
| Selective | loss of memory for some, but not all, events occurring within a period |
| Generalized | Loss of memory, beginning with and event, but extending back in time; may lose sense of identity; may fail to recognize family and friends |
| Continuous | Forgetting of both old and new information and events; quite rare in cases of dissociative amnesia |
| Semantic memory | memory for abstract or encyclopedic information usually remains intact. |
| Vital Statistics | Subpersonlities may differ in terms of age, sex, race, and family history, memories, movements, emotions |
| Abilities and preferences | It is not uncommon for different sub personalities to have different areas of expertise or abilities, including driving a car, speaking foreign languages, or playing an instrument |
| Physiological responses | Researches have discovered that sub personalities may have physiological differences, such as differences in autonomic nervous system activity, blood pressure levels, and allergies |
| Psycho dynamic view | Theorist believe that dissociative disorders are caused by repression, the most basic ego defense mechanism. People fight off anxiety by unconsciously preventing painful memories, thoughts, or impulses from reaching awareness |
| Behavioral view | dissociation grows from normal memory processes and is a response learned through operant conditioning: Momentary forgetting of trauma decreases anxiety, which increases the likelihood of future forgetting. Like psycho dynamic theorists, behaviorists see dissociation an escape behavior |
| State-dependent Learning | If people learn something when they are in a particular state of mind, they are likely to remember it best when they are in the same condition. |
| Self-hypnosis | Although hypnosis can help people remember events that were forgotten long ago, it can also help people forget facts, events, and their personal identity. |
| Integrating the Sub personalities | The final goal of therapy is to merge the different sub personalities into single, integrated entity |
| How are Dissociative Disorders Treated | Hypnotherapy, Drug therapy, Psycho dynamic Therapy |
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