PSY 333 Test 3 Study Guide: Abnormal Psychology Disorders and Treatment
Review
What are the major characteristics of somatic symptom and related disorders? - correct answer
✔✔All these disorders involve somatic symptoms associated with significant distress or
impairment, involves a person having a significant focus on physical symptoms, such as pain,
weakness or shortness of breath, that results in major distress and/or problems functioning.
The individual has excessive thoughts, feelings and behaviors relating to the physical symptoms
stressor or trauma associated
Understand the history of this group of disorders (i.e., hysterical neuroses) - correct answer
✔✔Breuer: Anna O.; Hysterical neuroses: physical symptoms that are present without any
known physiological explanation; hypnosis helped symptoms go away
Freud: neuroses based in anxiety and psychological issues were converted from psychological in
nature to physical in nature
Differentiate between the different somatic symptom disorders and describe the symptoms of
each disorder - correct answer ✔✔Somatic Symptom Disorder- Usually experience multiple
somatic symptoms that are distressing and/ or disrupt their daily lives
Illness Anxiety Disorder- Individuals are preoccupied with either having or contracting a serious
disease and experience high levels of anxiety about their health
Conversion Disorder- Symptoms or deficits in sensory or motor behavior that cannot be
explained by known medical condition
Factitious disorder: intentionally faking psychological and/or physical symptoms, but with no
external incentives like with malingering
List and discuss the categories of symptoms for conversion disorder - correct answer ✔✔1.
Sensory - blindness/ deafness
2. Motor - paralysis/ anesthesia
3. Seizure
4.Mixed - variety of all
, Give examples of each of the somatic symptom and related disorders - correct answer
✔✔Somatic symptom disorder: experience Abdominal pain intermittently, preoccupied of
symptoms and they are debilitating fearful of onset of symptoms and all tests find that nothing
is wrong missed several days of work
Conversion disorder: glove anesthesia or being blind but moving around objects
Illness anxiety - friend feels her boob and thinks she has a lump goes to the doctor and he does
tests and there is no lump so she goes to a different doctor to get a second opinion but there is
nothing wrong but she is still convinced she has breast cancer
Factitious disorder: faking having cancer and being bed ridden for months on end with people
visiting and giving sympathy gifts and out of work only for the attention
What is malingering and the factitious disorders? What is factitious disorder imposed on
another? - correct answer ✔✔Malingering- intentionally producing or grossly exaggerating
physical symptoms to gain external incentives (not a disorder)
- Factitious Disorder: Intentionally faking psychological or physical symptoms (or both), but with
no external incentives like with malingering -Munchausen's syndrome
factitious disorder imposed on another is usually with a mother who convinces their child they
have an illness or to act like it to gain attention
Describe the psychodynamic explanation of somatic symptom and related disorders. - correct
answer ✔✔Freud argued that unconscious conflicts can manifest themselves as physical
symptoms
Additionally there is primary gain or secondary gain
How would a learning theorist explain somatic symptom disorders? - correct answer
✔✔Learned through modeling or reinforcement from others gain attention, sympathy. See
Others get sick and gain sympathy and learn vicariously
Describe possible causes of somatic symptom disorders from the cognitive perspective - correct
answer ✔✔Excessive attention on bodily symptoms
Review
What are the major characteristics of somatic symptom and related disorders? - correct answer
✔✔All these disorders involve somatic symptoms associated with significant distress or
impairment, involves a person having a significant focus on physical symptoms, such as pain,
weakness or shortness of breath, that results in major distress and/or problems functioning.
The individual has excessive thoughts, feelings and behaviors relating to the physical symptoms
stressor or trauma associated
Understand the history of this group of disorders (i.e., hysterical neuroses) - correct answer
✔✔Breuer: Anna O.; Hysterical neuroses: physical symptoms that are present without any
known physiological explanation; hypnosis helped symptoms go away
Freud: neuroses based in anxiety and psychological issues were converted from psychological in
nature to physical in nature
Differentiate between the different somatic symptom disorders and describe the symptoms of
each disorder - correct answer ✔✔Somatic Symptom Disorder- Usually experience multiple
somatic symptoms that are distressing and/ or disrupt their daily lives
Illness Anxiety Disorder- Individuals are preoccupied with either having or contracting a serious
disease and experience high levels of anxiety about their health
Conversion Disorder- Symptoms or deficits in sensory or motor behavior that cannot be
explained by known medical condition
Factitious disorder: intentionally faking psychological and/or physical symptoms, but with no
external incentives like with malingering
List and discuss the categories of symptoms for conversion disorder - correct answer ✔✔1.
Sensory - blindness/ deafness
2. Motor - paralysis/ anesthesia
3. Seizure
4.Mixed - variety of all
, Give examples of each of the somatic symptom and related disorders - correct answer
✔✔Somatic symptom disorder: experience Abdominal pain intermittently, preoccupied of
symptoms and they are debilitating fearful of onset of symptoms and all tests find that nothing
is wrong missed several days of work
Conversion disorder: glove anesthesia or being blind but moving around objects
Illness anxiety - friend feels her boob and thinks she has a lump goes to the doctor and he does
tests and there is no lump so she goes to a different doctor to get a second opinion but there is
nothing wrong but she is still convinced she has breast cancer
Factitious disorder: faking having cancer and being bed ridden for months on end with people
visiting and giving sympathy gifts and out of work only for the attention
What is malingering and the factitious disorders? What is factitious disorder imposed on
another? - correct answer ✔✔Malingering- intentionally producing or grossly exaggerating
physical symptoms to gain external incentives (not a disorder)
- Factitious Disorder: Intentionally faking psychological or physical symptoms (or both), but with
no external incentives like with malingering -Munchausen's syndrome
factitious disorder imposed on another is usually with a mother who convinces their child they
have an illness or to act like it to gain attention
Describe the psychodynamic explanation of somatic symptom and related disorders. - correct
answer ✔✔Freud argued that unconscious conflicts can manifest themselves as physical
symptoms
Additionally there is primary gain or secondary gain
How would a learning theorist explain somatic symptom disorders? - correct answer
✔✔Learned through modeling or reinforcement from others gain attention, sympathy. See
Others get sick and gain sympathy and learn vicariously
Describe possible causes of somatic symptom disorders from the cognitive perspective - correct
answer ✔✔Excessive attention on bodily symptoms
