Search results for "Medically unexplained"
showing 10 items of 28 documents
Medically unexplained symptoms in children and adolescents: Illness-related self-concept and parental symptom evaluations
2019
According to cognitive-behavioral models, illness-related symptom evaluations and self-concepts play a pivotal role in the development and maintenance of medically unexplained somatic symptoms (MUS). However, illness-related cognitions related to MUS have rarely been studied in children/adolescents and their parents.Seventy-eight children and adolescents (M = 14.2 years; 59% female) performed two versions of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure the implicit illness-related and the implicit anxiety-related self-concept. Illness-related evaluations of unspecific symptoms were assessed via the Health Norms Sorting Task (HNST), and MUS as well as characteristics of somatic symptom dis…
High blood pressure responders show largest increase in heartbeat perception accuracy after post-learning stress following a cardiac interoceptive le…
2020
Mental disorders with physical symptoms, e.g. somatic symptom disorder, are characterized by altered interoceptive accuracy (IAc), which can be explained by individual differences in interoceptive learning (IL). We investigated if stress facilitates IL. Seventy-three healthy participants performed a heartbeat counting task (HCT: T1) and a heartbeat perception training (HBPT). After exposure to a socially-evaluated cold pressor stress test (SECPT; n = 48) or a control condition (n = 25), two more HCTs were performed (T2: 30 min after SECPT; T3: 24 h later). After the HBPT, all participants showed an increase in IAc. We separated the stress group into high vs. low systolic blood pressures (SB…
Psychometric properties of the Somatic Symptom Scale 8 (SSS-8) in a representative sample of German adolescents.
2021
Abstract Objective The psychometric properties of the Somatic Symptom Scale 8 (SSS-8) have been investigated in different studies. However, there is no study examining its psychometric properties on representative data of adolescents. The study at hand will present results from a large representative sample of German adolescents (13 to 18 years). Methods The following analyses draw on cross-sectional data from German ninth-grade students collected in 2015. Altogether, 10,638 individuals were surveyed with a return rate of 68.5% as part of a periodic representative survey in the German federal state of Lower Saxony. Results For the SSS-8, coefficient omega for the full sample was ω = 0.90, a…
Frequency of somatic symptoms in the general population: Normative values for the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15).
2017
The PHQ-15 is widely used as an open access screening instrument for somatic symptoms in different health care settings. The objectives of the study were to contribute to the construct validity and to generate normative data for the PHQ-15.The survey was conducted in the general population in Germany from August 2011 to November 2014 (n=9250). All participants underwent an extensive core assessment including a set of questionnaires.Men reported significantly less (p0.001) physical symptoms than women (4.6 [SD=3.6] vs. 6.3 [SD=4.1]). The PHQ-15 total score was strongly correlated with the physical component of quality of life (r=-0.58), fatigue (r=0.56), anxiety (r=0.54) and sleep problems (…
Efficacy of short-term psychotherapy for multiple medically unexplained physical symptoms: a meta-analysis.
2011
Multiple medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are considered to be difficult and costly to treat. The current meta-analysis therefore investigates the efficacy of short-term psychotherapy for MUPS. Based on a multiple-phase literature search, studies were selected according to a-priori defined inclusion criteria. The standardized mean gain was used as the effect size index. Separate data aggregation of between- and within-group contrasts was performed on the basis of a mixed effects model. Outcome variables were physical symptoms, disorder specific emotions, cognitions and behaviors, depressive symptoms, general psychopathology, functional impairment, and health care utilization. …
Psychological models of development of idiopathic environmental intolerances: Evidence from longitudinal population-based data.
2021
Abstract The origin of idiopathic environmental intolerances (IEIs) is an open question. According to the psychological approaches, various top-down factors play a dominant role in the development of IEIs. The general psychopathology model assumes a propensity towards mental ill-health (negative affectivity) increases the probability of developing IEIs. The attribution model emphasizes the importance of mistaken attribution of experienced somatic symptoms; thus, more symptoms should lead to more IEIs. Finally, the nocebo model highlights the role of expectations in the development of IEIs. In this case, worries about the harmful effects of environmental factors are assumed to evoke IEIs. We…
Somatic Symptom Perception From a Predictive Processing Perspective: An Empirical Test Using the Thermal Grill Illusion.
2020
OBJECTIVE In a predictive processing perspective, symptom perceptions result from an integration of preexisting information in memory with sensory input. Physical symptoms can therefore reflect the relative predominance of either sensory input or preexisting information. In this study, we used the thermal grill illusion (TGI), which applies interlaced warm and cool temperatures to the skin to create a paradoxical heat-pain experience. Assuming that the TGI compared with single-temperature stimulation relies more importantly on an active integration process of the brain to create this paradoxical sensation, we tested the hypothesis whether a manipulation of the expectations during TGI would …
Emotion regulation in patients with somatic symptom and related disorders: A systematic review
2019
BackgroundSomatic symptoms and related disorders (SSD) are prevalent phenomena in the health-care system. Disturbances in emotion regulation (ER) are commonly observed in patients suffering from SSD.ObjectivesThis review aimed to examine ER processes that characterize SSD by a systematic analysis of the available empirical studies.Data sourcesPsycINFO and PubMed databases for the articles published between January 1985 and June 2018.Search terms"emotion/al regulation" or "affect regulation" and various forms of SSD.Study eligibility criteriaEmpirical studies that a) assigned adolescent or adult patients suffering from SSD based on a clinical diagnosis, and b) examined the relationship betwe…
Excessiveness in Symptom-Related Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors: An Investigation of Somatic Symptom Disorders in the General Population.
2020
OBJECTIVE The diagnostic criteria of somatic symptom disorder (SSD) emphasize that somatic symptoms receive disease value once they are accompanied by excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. The main objective of this study was to examine what constitutes excessiveness in psychological reactions to somatic complaints and how excessive symptom-related behavior influences self-reported health status and health care utilization. METHODS A national, representative general population survey was performed between January and March 2016 in Germany, including 2395 individuals older than 13 years. Self-report questionnaires (Somatic Symptom Scale-8, Somatic Symptom Disorder-B Criteria Scale) wer…
Symptoms and the body: Taking the inferential leap
2017
The relationship between the conscious experience of physical symptoms and indicators of objective physiological dysfunction is highly variable and depends on characteristics of the person, the context and their interaction. This relationship often breaks down entirely in the case of "medically unexplained" or functional somatic symptoms, violating the basic assumption in medicine that physical symptoms have physiological causes. In this paper, we describe the prevailing theoretical approach to this problem and review the evidence pertaining to it. We then use the framework of predictive coding to propose a new and more comprehensive model of the body-symptom relationship that integrates ex…