LPsych25-April-6 Case

■ Somatic Symptom Disorders ■ Involuntary physical complaints or disabilities with no biological cause ■ e.g. Pain Disorder ▪ Feel pain with no physical cause, or disproportionate amount of pain given cause eg Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder ▪ Formerly known as Conversion Hysteria, or (later) Conversion Disorder ▪ Paralysis, blindness, or loss of sensation with no physical cause ▪ Associated with “la belle indifference” – a ■ In some cases of Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder, anatomically impossible to have the specific pattern of symptoms ▪ e.g. “Glove Paralysis” Sensation Loss Areas served by nerves ▪ Person loses feeling, and movement below the wrist ▪ Retains feeling & movement above the wrist ▪ BUT: the nerves involved serve ■ Somatic Symptom Disorders ■ Involuntary physical complaints or disabilities with no biological cause ■ Different from Psychophysiological disorders ▪ where a psychological factor causes a medical condition with an actual, real biological cause ▪ e.g. stress  high blood pressure, peptic ulcers (pain caused by actual lesion in stomach wall) ■ Different from hypochondriasis ▪ an anxiety disorder ■ Factors in Somatic Symptom Disorders: ■ NOT faking it ■ Traumatic experience ▪ More common in wartime ▪ Also, higher proportion of Cambodian refugees developed Psychogenic Blindness after witnessing “killing fields” ........................................CONTINUED......................................................