PSYC 300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Somatization Disorder, Exaggeration, Hypochondriasis
Document Summary
Related to medical concerns, but in somewhat di ways. Ie) eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorders are not characterized as tih. ***when diagnosing this disorder, we don"t care about the physical cause and what the symptom is, it"s about how upset the patient is about the symptom. Ie) keeps complaining about leg in cast even though it"s recovering and not as extreme as complaints are making it seem. Catastrophizing of seriousness of symptoms = thinking symptom is more serious than it really is. Constant high anxiety about symptoms or general health. Excessive time/e spent on symptoms & health concerns. Clinical picture is very diverse aka ppl report di symptoms for di reasons. The following scenarios used to be diagnosed as separate disorders, but now all is considered somatic symptoms disorder. Will report many di physical symptoms across life. Ie) reports headaches, bowel issues, numbness/tingling, strange pains, etc. Lifelong distress & high use of health care sys.
