Factitious Disorder and Malingering Christopher Bass David Gill Factitious disorder Introduction Patients with factitious disorder feign or simulate illness, are considered not to be aware of the motives that drive…
Body Dysmorphic Disorder Katharine A. Phillips The dysmorphophobic patient is really miserable; in the middle of his daily routines, talks, while reading, during meals, everywhere and at any time, he…
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Michael Sharpe Simon Wessely Introduction Chronic fatigue syndrome is a controversial condition, conflicts about which have frequently burst out of the medical literature into the popular media….
Pain Disorder Sidney Benjamin Stella Morris Introduction Persistent somatoform pain disorder is an ICD-10 diagnosis, which is included in the group of somatoform disorders. The term pain disorder is used…
Hypochondriasis (Health Anxiety) Russell Noyes Jr. Introduction Hypochondriasis is a preoccupation with the fear that one has, or may develop, serious disease despite evidence to the contrary. So defined, the…
Conversion and Dissociation Disorders Christopher Bass Introduction Of all the disorders characterized by symptoms in the absence of disease, conversion disorders are perhaps the most difficult to explain. How, for…
Somatization Disorder and Related Disorders Per Fink Introduction The essential feature of somatization disorder and related disorders is that the patient presents multiple, medically unexplained symptoms or functional somatic symptoms….
Epidemiology of Somatoform Disorders and Other Causes of Unexplained Medical Symptoms Gregory Simon While nearly every psychiatric syndrome may include some somatic signs or symptoms, a specific group of syndromes…
Somatoform Disorders and Functional Symptoms Richard Mayou Non-specific symptoms that are not explained by organic pathology are extremely frequent in the general population(1) and in all medical settings. Most are…
Mind-Body Dualism, Psychiatry, and Medicine Michael Sharpe Jane Walker Introduction Patients usually attend doctors because they are concerned about symptoms. When these symptoms are associated with persistent distress or disability…
