Talk:Somatization disorder

Discussion of role of General Practitioner should be added
Could someone with more time than me do this? Here is the source info. From the American Association of Family Physicians website:
 * “Somatoform disorder is often encountered in family practice. Studies have documented that 5% of patients meet the criteria for somatization disorder, while another 4% have borderline somatization disorder. Most of these patients are female and have a low socioeconomic status. They have a high utilization of medical services, usually reflected by a thick medical chart, and are often single parents. As a rule, physicians tend to be less satisfied with the care rendered to these patients as opposed to those without the disorder. Patients with multiple unexplained physical complaints have been described as functionally disabled, spending an average of one week per month in bed. Many of these patients seek and are ultimately granted surgical procedures, and it is not uncommon for them to have multiple procedures, especially involving the pelvic area. Often there are associated psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression, suicidal threats, alcohol or drug abuse, interpersonal or occupational difficulties, and antisocial behavior. A background of a dysfunctional family unit in which one or both parents abused alcohol or drugs or were somatically preoccupied is also quite common. Unfortunately, these individuals tend to marry alcohol abusers, and thus continue the pattern of dysfunctional family life. Treatment of somatoform disorder should be by one primary physician where an established relationship and regular visits can curtail the dramatic symptoms that many times lead to hospitalization. The family physician is in a position to monitor family dynamics and provide direction on such issues as alcoholism and child abuse. Each office visit should be accompanied by a physical examination, and the temptation to tell the patient that the problem is not physical should be avoided. Knowing the patient well helps to avoid unnecessary hospitalization, diagnostic procedures, surgery, and laboratory tests. These should be done only if clearly indicated. Psychotropic medications should be avoided except when clearly indicated, as medications reinforce the sick role, may be abused, and may be used for suicidal gestures. Following these recommendations significantly decreases the cost of care for the patient. Ref: Rakel RE: Textbook of Family Practice, ed 6. WB Saunders Co, 2002, pp 1497-1498. 2) Hales RE, Yudofsky SC (ed): Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry, ed 4. American Psychiatric Publishing, 2003, pp 659-673. Ref: Rakel RE: Textbook of Family Practice, ed 6. WB Saunders Co, 2002, pp 1497-1498. 2) Hales RE, Yudofsky SC (ed): Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry, ed 4. American Psychiatric Publishing, 2003, pp 659-673.”

--Ibrmrn (talk) 03:53, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Additions
I have added DSM criteria for the disorder as will as a reference list. I have tried to wikify as I go. I hope to add a section on the etiology of the disorder, but may be difficult without POV. I appreciate any input from others in the field. Psy guy (talk) 16:12, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Hysteria
I believe that the mentioning of hysteria is incorrect or not fully correct. Afterall, the older term of hysteria can be applied to conversion disorder, histrionic personality disorders among many others. Hysteria is an umbrella term, and I'd consider taking out any mention of it. Broadly classified, this is a psychosomatic illness. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.147.194.187 (talk) 07:17, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Merge?
Should this article be merged with somatoform disorders? jareha 17:12, 27 December 2005 (UTC)
 * No. Why? -Jillium 23:05, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Misuse of this term:
Although this disease is said to be existent in some mentally weak patients, this term is misused in many of the cases where the doctor is not able to find the cause of this particular illness.

In Indian Tradition of Medicines, there are different arts that deal with human body.. For example, the art of varma system defines 108 points in human body.. when force is exerted in these varma points, the person feels a gust of energy flowing from that point to other parts of the body.. However, there is no proper explanation from the allopathic industry over this.. This varam art were also used as martial arts.. ie, when excessive pointed force is given at these varma points, the patients will collapse.. his nervous system also collapses and paralyses.. surprisingly, there is remedy for each varma..

So, the allopathic industry has confined itself to its narrow mindedness.. infact it rejects all other forms of treatments like homeopathy, etc..
 * I think homeopathy would be very effective in this disorder, since it has no real effect in and of itself. Great for the placebo effect and for keeping these patients from getting unnecessary treatments/surgeries/hospitalizations. It should be noted that it is recommended to follow these pts in general practice with frequent visits and avoid confrontating the pt with the psychogenic nature of their illness outside of a psychotherapeutic environment. Ref: Rakel RE: Textbook of Family Practice, ed 6. WB Saunders Co, 2002, pp 1497-1498. 2) Hales RE, Yudofsky SC (ed): Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry, ed 4. American Psychiatric Publishing, 2003, pp 659-673. Ibrmrn (talk) 03:49, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

This disease has to be properly reviewed to prevent misuse of these terms to misguide the patient. there are many doctors who without detailed analysis, conclude that the patient's symptoms are due to this somatization disorder or hypochondriasis.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.11.44.135 (talk) 09:18, 14 March 2008 (UTC) ]

This condition, as well as others, are often misused on patients with temporal lobe epilepsy - in particular when the patient has never had a convulsive seizure and when the patient is seeing doctors/specialist who aren't neurologists. The rarity of capturing such seizures on an EEG means these patients may also be misdiagnosed by neurologist who don't have a good understanding of epilepsy. Sometimes it is necessary for the patient to see an epileptologist before the mistake is corrected


 * I agree that something should be added about misuse of this diagnoses. The article implies that it is a good thing for PCPs to keep a look-out for this disease (effecting almost 1% of the population) which costs health care systems so much money in unnecessary testing.  I suppose we should also warn homicide detectives that many people actually shoot themselves, on purpose or by accident.  A lot of time and money would be saved if every time someone was shot, the cops didn't insist on launching an investigation just because they think it might have been murder.
 * Idiopathic = your doctor is an idiot.Police Cat (talk) 09:45, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Prevalence
I only have German sources for this, but the prognosis is only bad if the symptoms occur within a range of several years and remain untreated. If therapy starts early and you accept the fact that your symptoms have no organic cause and follow your prescribed regimen, the prognosis is, actually, quite good. -- Plum couch Talk2Me 21:04, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Please fix first paragraph
It appears that someone has deleted some of the text of the first paragraph and replaced it with a parenthesis? How else can one explain this construction? "Somatization disorder (alsical signs." This is nonsensical.  Would someone who feels a sense of ownership over this article please fix this? Pammalamma (talk) 00:25, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Criteria
Are all of the 5 criteria required for a positive diagnosis, or only one, or three out of the five? Ileanadu (talk) 16:15, 7 August 2010 (UTC)


 * The introductory paragraph for this disorder would appear to be incorrect and misleading. Imagine a young patient with bowel cancer and read the definition again - they would appear to meet this definition. The definition needs some kind of clause regarding the nature of the syptoms, i.e. the fact that to qualify for this diagnosis, the symptoms must be psychological in origin. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.176.105.153 (talk) 12:14, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

DSM 5 deleted "Somatization disorder" | Somatic Symptom Disorder
DSM 5 deleted somatization disorder. Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) is now the name and many different somatization issues have been merged into SSD.

A new wikipedia article by the name Somatic Symptom Disorder needs to be created instead of somatization disorder, since the DSM 5 has rendered somatization disorder obsolete.


 * http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Somatic%20Symptom%20Disorder%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
 * http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-updates/psychiatry-psychology/diagnostic-statistical-manual-mental-disorders-redefines-hypochondriasis
 * http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/content.aspx?bookid=556&sectionid=41101775

'''"Somatization disorder" no longer exists. Please delete this wikipedia article and/or merge this article to be called "Somatic Symptom Disorder" as defined in the DSM 5.'''

"Diagnoses of somatization disorder, hypochondriasis, pain disorder, and undifferentiated somatoform disorder were deleted." DSM-5

24.97.201.230 (talk) 19:56, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
 * "The DSM-IV disorders of somatization disorder, hypochondriasis, pain disorder, and undifferentiated somatoform disorder have been removed, and many, but not all, of the individuals diagnosed with one of these disorders could now be diagnosed with SSD." from http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Somatic%20Symptom%20Disorder%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf 24.97.201.230 (talk) 20:07, 6 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and represents a global point of view. The DSM-V cannot abolish a disorder on its own since it's largely irrelevant outside the US. We already cover what the DSM-V has to say on this subject; there's no need to slavishly follow it and rename the article in its wake. If there is a scholarly consensus that the name of the disorder has changed, please provide a source outside the DSM itself. Huon (talk) 20:28, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Psychiatric disorders are created by the DSM. The newest DSM, DSM-5, has deleted it. ("Somatization disorder" only existed because it was created by the DSM, as all psychiatric disorders are.)24.97.201.230 (talk) 01:12, 7 April 2014 (UTC)


 * That sums up DSM and the problem about it - "Psychiatric disorders are created by the DSM" Irony alert!!!

Gwaka Lumpa (talk) 08:06, 20 May 2014 (UTC)


 * ICD-10, the latest version of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, still includes somatization syndrome, so we should too. Mikael Häggström (talk) 16:17, 23 May 2015 (UTC)

Symptom Reality
A critical point that I'm not able to understand from the article as its currently written: Are the symptoms real?

Actually, let me rephrase: Does the sufferer perceive their symptoms accurately? If a rash is one of the symptoms, does the rash actually exist, and does the sufferer perceive the rash's extent/severity as non-sufferers would? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.164.206.181 (talk) 20:09, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

Text with unknown definition of the term
The whole "Symptoms"-section was not clear in what criteria for the disease were used. Obviously, symptoms vary depending on what criteria you use to define the disorder. The introduction even presented these as belonging to Somatic symptom disorder, which is another article. I moved the section to box below until we can clear this out. Mikael Häggström (talk) 16:49, 23 May 2015 (UTC)