Dissociative and Somatoform Disorders

1. Overview & Epidemiology

Two families, one root idea: psychological distress expressed as bodily or mental dysfunction without a sufficient organic cause.

• Dissociative disorders = involuntary disruption of the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, perception, affect, and behaviour. Spectrum from normal (daydreaming) to severe (loss of identity).
• Somatoform / Somatic symptom disorders = physical complaints driving distress and over-use of medical services, disproportionate to or unexplained by organic disease. Lecture term: "chronic neurosis."