Somatoform Disorders and Dissociative Disorders

Ellen becomes dizzy & nauseated in the late afternoon- shortly before she expects her husband home. Neither her primary care physician nor the neurologist he sent her to could identify a physical cause. They suspect her symptoms have an unconscious psychological origin, possibly triggered by her mixed feelings about her husband.

Somatoform Disorders Somatoform Disorders: psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical causes Culture has a big effect on people’s physical complaints Psychological explanations of anxiety and depression are socially less acceptable in China than in Western Culture Chinese appear more willing to report physical symptoms of their distress Bodily complaints have often been observed in African cultures as well.

One type of somatoform disorder is conversion disorder A rare somatoform disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found Anxiety is converted into a physical symptom Hypochondriasis is another form of somatoform disorders A person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease Typically the person will go through many doctors before one will diagnosis them Many times the person, and doctors, fail to treat the psychological roots of the disorder and only treat the physical complaints

Dissociative Disorders Dissociative Disorders: disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings Dissociation itself is not so rare Many people may have a sense of being unreal, of being separated from their body Example of this is when you drive somewhere without consciously knowing that you were driving

Dissociative Identity Disorder A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct personalities. Used to be called multiple personality disorder Each personality has its own identity Understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder Nicholas Spanos asked college students to pretend they were accused murders being examined by a psychiatrist Under hypnosis most spontaneously expressed a second personality

Skeptics also find it suspicious that the disorder is so localized in time and space Between 1930 and 1960 only 2 cases per decade were diagnosis In 1980 when the DSM contained the first formal code the number shot up to 20,000 Outside of North America disorder is much less prevalent oIn India and Japan it is practically nonexistent Is this a cultural phenomenon? Skeptics feel some practitioners that use hypnosis go fishing for personalities

Other psychologists disagree finding support of DID Handedness switches from personality to personality Visual acuity and eye muscle balance changes Both psychoanalysis and learning perspectives agree that this is a way of handling anxiety Psychoanalysis see this as a defense against the anxiety cause by the eruption of unacceptable impulses Learning view this as behavior reinforced by anxiety reduction Some place dissociative disorders under post- traumatic disorders because of their natural protective responses

There’s Something About Eve Chris Sizemore’s story gave visibility to DID