Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:44:53.511Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Unexplained Physical Complaints

Psychopathology and Epidemiological Correlates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Javier I. Escobar  and
Glorisa Canino
Javier I. Escobar*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center
Glorisa Canino
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
*
VA Medical Center (14A), 555 Willard Avenue, Newington, Connecticut 06111, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

‘Hypochondria’, ‘hypochondriasis’, and ‘somatisation’ are terms long used to characterise individuals who display unrelenting somatic symptoms that cannot be medically explained. A psychiatric aetiology for such phenomena is often assumed on the basis of potential psychological gain, the presence of ‘stressors’, the co-existence of unexplained somatic symptom and symptoms of depression or anxiety, or merely the absence of a medical explanation.

Type
I. Nosological Aspects
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue S4: Psychiatric Diagnosis: Nosological, Biological and Psychological Aspects , May 1989 , pp. 24 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barsky, A. J. & Klerman, G. I. (1983) Overview: hypochrondriasis, bodily complaints and somatic styles. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 273–283.Google Scholar
Canino, G., Bird, H. R., Shrout, P., et al (1987) The prevalence of specific mental disorders in Puerto Rico. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 127–135.Google Scholar
Escobar, J. I., Gomez, J. & Tuason, V. B. (1983) Depressive phenomenology in North and South American patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 47–51.Google Scholar
Escobar, J. I. (1987) The somatizer cross-culturally: Towards an operational definition of the trait ‘somatization”. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 38, 174–180.Google Scholar
Escobar, J. I., Burnam, M. A., Karno, M., et al (1987) Somatization in the community. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 713–718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Escobar, J. I., Golding, J. M., Hough, R. L., et al (1987) Somatization in the community: Relationship to disability and use of services. American Journal of Public Health, 77, 837–840.Google Scholar
Escobar, J. I., Rubio, M., Canino, G., et al (in press) Somatic Symptom Index (SSI) A new and abridged somatization construct: prevalence and epidemiological correlates in two large community samples. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, (in press).Google Scholar
Feighner, J. P., Robins, E., Guze, S. B., et al (1972) Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 29, 381–389.Google Scholar
Kirmayer, L. J. (1984) Culture affect and somatization. Transcultural Psychiatry Research, 21, 159–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mezzich, J. E. & Raab, E. S. (1980). Depressive symptomatology across the Americas. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 818–823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perley, M. G. & Guze, S. B. (1962) Hysteria: The stability and usefulness of clinical criteria, New England and Journal of Medicine, 266, 421–426.Google Scholar
Robins, L. N., Helzer, J., Croughan, J., et al (1981) The National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule: Its history, characteristics, and validity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 381–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Weissman, M. M., et al (1984) Lifetime prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders in three sites. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 949–958.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1975) Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for a selected group of functional disorders. New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Stekel, W. (1921) Storungen des Trieb und Affektlebens. Nervose Angstzustande und Ihre Behandlung. Berlin: Urban & Scwarzenberg.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.