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Copyright 2019, Rajnish Mago, MD. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without express written permission.
Disclaimer: The content on this website is provided as general education for medical professionals. It is not intended or recommended for patients or other lay persons or as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Patients must always consult a qualified health care professional regarding their diagnosis and treatment. Healthcare professionals should always check this website for the most recently updated information.
The DSM-5 has a chapter on “Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders.” This page provides a short introduction to the disorders included in this category.
In DSM-IV, the category was called “Somatoform Disorders.” Why was it changed to “Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders”? Non-psychiatric clinicians, who are the ones more likely to be treating patients with these disorders, found the category of “Somatoform disorders” confusing. So, the name was changed and the number of disorders in the category were reduced.
The chapter includes the following diagnoses:
1. Somatic symptom disorder
2. Illness anxiety disorder
3. Conversion disorder (functional neurological symptom disorder)
4. Psychological factors affecting other medical conditions
5. Factitious disorder
6. Other specified somatic symptom and related disorder, and unspecified somatic symptom and related disorder.
What do all the disorders in this category have in common that leads to them being put together in the same chapter? Prominent somatic (physical) symptoms that lead to significant distress and/or impairment in functioning.
Notice that DSM doesn’t say somatic symptoms without a physical basis, or something like that.
Related Pages
Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Pharmacological treatment
References
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Arlington, VA, American Psychiatric Association, 2013.
Copyright 2019, Rajnish Mago, MD. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without express written permission.
Disclaimer: The content on this website is provided as general education for medical professionals. It is not intended or recommended for patients or other lay persons or as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Patients must always consult a qualified health care professional regarding their diagnosis and treatment. Healthcare professionals should always check this website for the most recently updated information.
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