Psychological approaches to origins and treatments of somatoform disorders

Annual Review of Clinical Psychology

Volumn 6, Issue , 2010, Pages 257-283

  Witthöft, Michael ^a   Hiller, Wolfgang ^a  

^a JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

Biopsychosocial model; Cognitive behavior therapy; Functional somatic syndromes; Medically unexplained symptoms; Somatization

Indexed keywords

AGORAPHOBIA; ATTENTION; BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER; CARBON DIOXIDE TENSION; CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME; CLINICAL FEATURE; CLINICAL PRACTICE; COGNITIVE THERAPY; CONVERSION DISORDER; DESENSITIZATION; DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS; FIBROMYALGIA; HUMAN; HYPOCHONDRIASIS; IRRITABLE COLON; PANIC; PSYCHOBIOLOGY; PSYCHOEDUCATION; PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL; PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDER; RELAXATION TRAINING; REVIEW; SOMATIZATION; SOMATOFORM DISORDER; THERAPY EFFECT; TREATMENT OUTCOME;

ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; COGNITIVE THERAPY; CONDITIONING, CLASSICAL; HEALTH STATUS; HUMANS; SOMATOFORM DISORDERS;

EID: 77952913717     PISSN: 15485943     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131505     Document Type: Review

References (114)

1. Abramowitz JS, Braddock AE. 2008. Psychological Treatment of Health Anxiety and Hypochondriasis: A Biopsychosocial Approach. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe & Huber
2. Abramowitz JS, Moore EL. 2007. An experimental analysis of hypochondriasis. Behav. Res. Ther. 45:413-424
3. Allen LA, Escobar JI, Lehrer PM, Gara MA,Woolfolk RL. 2002. Psychosocial treatments for multiple unexplained physical symptoms: a review of the literature. Psychosom. Med. 64:939-950
4. Amir N, Beard C, Burns M, Bomyea J. 2009. Attention modification program in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 118:28-33
5. Bailer J, Witthöft M, Bayerl C, Rist F. 2007. Syndrome stability and psychological predictors of symptom severity in idiopathic environmental intolerance and somatoform disorders. Psychol. Med. 37:271-281
6. Bailer J,Witthöft M, Paul C, Bayerl C, Rist F. 2005. Evidence for overlap between idiopathic environmental intolerance and somatoform disorders. Psychosom. Med. 67:921-929
7. Bailer J,Witthöft M, Rist F. 2008. Psychological predictors of short- and medium term outcome in individuals with idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) and individuals with somatoform disorders. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health A 71:766-775
8. Barsky AJ. 1992. Amplification, somatization, and the somatoform disorder. Psychosomatics 33:28-34
9. Barsky AJ, Borus JF. 1999. Functional somatic syndromes. Ann. Intern. Med. 130:910-921
10. Barsky AJ, Goodson JD, Lane RS, Cleary PD. 1988. The amplification of somatic symptoms. Psychosom. Med. 50:510-519
11. Barsky AJ, Orav EJ, Bates DW. 2005. Somatization increases medical utilization and costs independent of psychiatric and medical comorbidity. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 62:903-910
12. Beck A. 1976. Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. New York: Meridian
13. Bleichhardt G, Weck F. 2007. Kognitive Verhaltenstherapie bei Hypochondrie und Krankheitsangst. Heidelberg: Springer
14. Brown RJ. 2004. Psychological mechanisms of medically unexplained symptoms. Psychol. Bull. 130:793-812
15. Brown RJ. 2007. Introduction to the special issue on medically unexplained symptoms: background and future directions. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 27:769-780
16. Brown RJ, Cardeña E, Nijenhuis E, Sar V, Van Der Hart O. 2007a. Should conversion disorder be reclassified as a dissociative disorder in DSM V? Psychosomatics 48:369-378
17. Brown RJ, Poliakoff E, Kirkman MA 2007. Somatoform dissociation and somatosensory amplification are differentially associated with attention to the tactile modality following exposure to body-related stimuli. J. Psychosom. Res. 62, 159-165.
18. Cacioppo JT, Berntson GG, Klein DJ. 1992. What is an emotion? The role of somatovisceral afference, with special emphasis on somatovisceral "illusions." Rev. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 14:63-98
19. Clark DM. 1986. A cognitive approach to panic. Behav. Res. Ther. 24:461-470
20. Clark DM. 2005. A cognitive perspective on social phobia. In The Essential Handbook of Social Anxiety for Clinicians, ed. WR Crozier, LE Alden, pp. 193-218. Hoboken, NJ:Wiley
21. Cohen J. 1988. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. 2nd ed.
22. Creed F, Barsky A. 2004. A systematic review of the epidemiology of somatisation disorder and hypochondriasis. J. Psychosom. Res. 56:391-408
23. Cuijpers P, van Straten A, van Schaik A, Andersson G. 2009. Psychological treatment of depression in primary care: a meta-analysis. Br. J. Gen. Pract. 59:e51-60
24. Deacon BJ, Abramowitz JS. 2004. Cognitive and behavioral treatments for anxiety disorders: a review of meta-analytic findings. J. Clin. Psychol. 60:429-441
25. Deary V, Chalder T, Sharpe M. 2007. The cognitive behavioural model of medically unexplained symptoms: a theoretical and empirical review. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 27:781-797
26. Devriese S,Winters W, Stegen K, Van Diest I, Veulemans H, et al. 2000. Generalization of acquired somatic symptoms in response to odors: a Pavlovian perspective on multiple chemical sensitivity. Psychosom. Med. 62:751-759
27. Eriksen HR, Ursin H. 2004. Subjective health complaints, sensitization, and sustained cognitive activation (stress). J. Psychosom. Res. 56:445-448
28. Escobar JI, Rubio-Stipec M, Canino G, Karno M. 1989. Somatic symptom index (SSI): a new and abridged somatization construct. Prevalence and epidemiological correlates in two large community samples. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 177:140-146
29. Feldman Barrett LF, Tugade MM, Engle RW. 2004. Individual differences in working memory capacity and dual-process theories of the mind. Psychol. Bull. 130:553-573
30. Friedberg F, Jason LA. 2001. Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia: clinical assessment and treatment. J. Clin. Psychol. 57:433-455
31. Fukuda K, Straus SE, Hickie I, Sharpe MC, Dobbins JG, Komaroff A. 1994. The chronic fatigue syndrome: a comprehensive approach to its definition and study. International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Group. Ann. Intern. Med. 121:953-959
32. Furer P,Walker JR. 2005. Treatment of hypochondriasis with exposure. J. Contemp. Psychother. 35:251-267
33. Geisser ME, Strader Donnell C, Petzke F, Gracely RH, Clauw DJ, Williams DA. 2008. Comorbid somatic symptoms and functional status in patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome: sensory amplification as a common mechanism. Psychosomatics 49:235-242
34. Gordon E, Kraiuhin C, Kelly P, Meares R, Howson A. 1986. A neurophysiological study of somatization disorder. Compr. Psychiatry 27:295-301
35. Guglielmi RS, Cox DJ, Spyker DA. 1994. Behavioral treatment of phobic avoidance in multiple chemical sensitivity. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psychiatry 25:197-209
36. Gureje O, Ustün TB, Simon GE. 1997. The syndrome of hypochondriasis: a cross-national study in primary care. Psychol. Med. 27:1001-1010
37. Hamilton J, Campos R, Creed F. 1996. Anxiety, depression and management of medically unexplained symptoms in medical clinics. J. R. Coll. Physicians London 30:18-20
38. Hanel G, Henningsen P, Herzog W, Sauer N, Schaefert R, et al. 2009. Depression, anxiety, and somatoform disorders: vague or distinct categories in primary care? Results from a large cross-sectional study. J. Psychosom. Res. 67:189-197
39. Heim C, Nater UM, Maloney E, Boneva R, Jones JF, Reeves WC. 2009. Childhood trauma and risk for chronic fatigue syndrome: association with neuroendocrine dysfunction. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 66:72-80
40. Henningsen P, Zimmermann T, Sattel H. 2003. Medically unexplained physical symptoms, anxiety, and depression: a meta-analytic review. Psychosom. Med. 65:528-533
41. Henningsen P, Zipfel S, Herzog W. 2007. Management of functional somatic syndromes. Lancet 369:946-955
42. Hiller W, Janca A. 2003. Assessment of somatoform disorders: a review of strategies and instruments. Acta Neuropsychiatr. 15:167-179 (Pubitemid 36992870)
43. Hiller W, Rief W, Brähler E. 2006. Somatization in the population: from mild bodily misperceptions to disabling symptoms. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 41:704-712
44. Hiller W, Rief W, Fichter MM. 2002. Dimensional and categorical approaches to hypochondriasis. Psychol. Med. 32:707-718
45. Horwitz BJ, Fisher RS. 2001. The irritable bowel syndrome. N. Engl. J. Med. 344:1846-1850
46. Ipser JC, Sander C, Stein DJ. 2009. Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy for body dysmorphic disorder. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 21:CD005332
47. Jacobi F,Wittchen HU, Holting C,Höfler M, Pfister H, et al. 2004. Prevalence, comorbidity and correlates of mental disorders in the general population: results from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey (GHS). Psychol. Med. 34:597-611
48. James L, Gordon E, Kraiuhin C, Howson A, Meares R. 1990. Augmentation of auditory evoked potentials in somatization disorder. J. Psychiatr. Res. 24:155-163
49. Johnson SK. 2008. Medically Unexplained Illness-Gender and Biopsychosocial Implications.Washington, DC: Am. Psychol. Assoc.
50. Kanaan RA, Lepine JP,Wessely SC. 2007. The association or otherwise of the functional somatic syndromes. Psychosom. Med. 69:855-859
51. Kanfer FH, Saslow G. 1965. Behavioral analysis: an alternative to diagnostic classification. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 12:529-538
52. Kirmayer LJ, Robbins JM. 1991. Three forms of somatization in primary care: prevalence, co-occurrence, and sociodemographic characteristics. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 179:647-655
53. Kirmayer LJ, Robbins JM, Paris J. 1994. Somatoform disorders: personality and the social matrix of somatic distress. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 103:125-136
54. Kirmayer LJ, Taillefer S. 1997. Somatoform disorders. In Adult Psychopathology and Diagnosis, ed. SM Turner, M Hersen, pp. 333-383 New York:Wiley. 3rd ed.
55. Kroenke K. 2007. Efficacy of treatment of somatoform disorders: a review of randomized controlled trials. Psychosom. Med. 69:881-888
56. Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW. 2002. The PHQ-15: validity of a new measure for evaluating the severity of somatic symptoms. Psychol. Med. 68:258-266
57. Kroenke K, Swindle R. 2000. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for somatization and symptom syndromes: a critical review of controlled clinical trials. Psychother. Psychosom. 69:205-215
58. Lahey BB. 2009. Public health significance of neuroticism. Am. Psychol. 64:241-256
59. Landgrebe M, Barta W, Rosengarth K, Frick U, Hauser S, et al. 2008. Neuronal correlates of symptom formation in functional somatic syndromes: a fMRI study. Neuroimage 41:1336-1344
60. Langlois F, Ladouceur R. 2004. Adaptation of a GAD treatment for hypochondriasis. Cogn. Behav. Pract. 11:393-404
61. Lidbeck J. 1997. Group therapy for somatization disorders in general practice: effectiveness of a short cognitivebehavioural treatment model. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 96:14-24
62. Lidbeck J. 2003. Group therapy for somatization disorders in primary care: maintenance of treatment goals of short cognitive-behavioural treatment one-and-a-half-year follow-up. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 107:449-456
63. Lim S-L, Kim J-H. 2005. Cognitive processing of emotional information in depression, panic, and somatoform disorders. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 114:50-61
64. Lloyd DM, Mason L, Brown RJ, Poliakoff E. 2008. Development of a paradigm for measuring somatic disturbance in clinical populations with medically unexplained symptoms. J. Psychosom. Res. 64:21-24
65. Looper KJ, Kirmayer LJ. 2001. Hypochondriacal concerns in a community population. Psychol. Med. 31:577-584
66. Looper KJ, Kirmayer LJ. 2002. Behavioral medicine approaches to somatoform disorders. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 70:810-827
67. Mai F. 2004. Somatization disorder: a practical review. Can. J. Psychiatry 49:652-662
68. Marin C, Carron R. 2002. The origin of the concept of somatization. Psychosomatics 43:249-250
69. Martin A, Buech A, Schwenk C, Rief W. 2007. Memory bias for health-related information in somatoform disorders. J. Psychosom. Res. 63:663-671
70. Martin A, Jacobi F. 2006. Features of hypochondriasis and illness worry in the general population in Germany. Psychosom. Med. 68:770-777
71. Nathan PE, Stuart SP, Dolan SL. 2000. Research on psychotherapy efficacy and effectiveness: between Scylla and Charybdis? Psychol. Bull. 126:964-981
72. Nezu AM, Nezu CM, Lombardo ER. 2001. Cognitive behavioural therapy for medically unexplained symptoms: a critical review of the treatment. Behav. Ther. 32:537-583
73. Nimnuan C, Hotopf M, Wessely S. 2000. Medically unexplained symptoms: How often and why are they missed? QJM 93:21-28
74. Norman D, Shallice T. 1986. Attention to action: willed and automatic control of behavior. In Consciousness and Self-Regulation: Advances in Research and Theory, ed. R Davidson, RG Schwartz, D Shapiro, pp. 1-18. New York: Plenum
75. Noyes R, Stuart S, Watson DB, Langbehn DR. 2006. Distinguishing between hypochondriasis and somatization disorder: a review of the existing literature. Psychother. Psychosom. 75:270-281
76. Olatunji BO, Deacon BJ, Abramowitz JS. 2009. Is hypochondriasis an anxiety disorder? Br. J. Psychiatry 194:481-482
77. Olde Hartman TC. 2009. Medically unexplained symptoms, somatisation disorder and hypochondriasis: course and prognosis. A systematic review. J. Psychosom. Res. 66:363-377
78. Öst LG. 2008. Efficacy of the third wave of behavioral therapies: a systematic review andmeta-analysis. Behav. Res. Ther. 46:296-321
79. Papageorgiou C, Wells A. 1998. Effects of attention training on hypochondriasis: a brief case series. Psychol. Med. 28:193-200
80. Pauli P, Alpers GW. 2002. Memory bias in patients with hypochondriasis and somatoform pain disorder. J. Psychosom. Res. 52:45-53
81. Pennebaker JW. 1982. The Psychology of Physical Symptoms. New York: Springer-Verlag
82. Reid S, Wessely S, Crayford T, Hotopf M. 2001. Medically unexplained symptoms in frequent attenders of secondary health care: retrospective cohort study. Br. Med. J. 322:767-771
83. Rief W, Auer C. 2001. Is somatization a habituation disorder? Physiological reactivity in somatization syndrome. Psychiatry Res. 101:63-74
84. Rief W, Barsky AJ. 2005. Psychobiological perspectives on somatoform disorders. Psychoneuroendocrinology 30:996-1002
85. Rief W, Hiller W. 1998. Somatisierungsstörung und Hypochondrie (Fortschritte der Psychotherapie-Band 1). Göttingen: Hogrefe
86. Rief W, Hiller W. 1999. Toward empirically based criteria for the classification of somatoform disorders. J. Psychosom. Res. 46:507-518
87. Rief W, Hiller W, Heuser J. 1997. SOMS-The Screening for Somatoform Symptoms [in German]. Bern, Switzerland: Huber
88. Rief W, Hiller W, Margraf J. 1998. Cognitive aspects of hypochondriasis and the somatization syndrome. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 107:587-595
89. Rief W, Ihle D, Pilger F. 2003. A new approach to assess illness behavior. J. Psychosom. Res. 54:405-414
90. Rief W, Shaw R, Fichter MM. 1998. Elevated levels of psychophysiological arousal and cortisol in patients with somatization syndrome. Psychosom. Med. 60:198-203
91. Rosen JC, Reiter J, Orosan P. 1995. Cognitive-behavioral body image therapy for body dysmorphic disorder. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 63:263-269
92. Rosen JC, Salzberg E, Srebnik D. 1989. Cognitive behavior therapy for negative body image. Behav. Ther. 20:393-404
93. Ruddy R, House A. 2005. Psychosocial interventions for conversion disorder. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 19:CD005331
94. Schmidt NB, Richey JA, Buckner JD, Timpano KR. 2009. Attention training for generalized social anxiety disorder. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 118:5-14
95. Sharpe M, Peveler R, Mayou R. 1992. The psychological treatment of patients with functional somatic symptoms: a practical guide. J. Psychosom. Res. 36:515-529
96. Staudenmayer H. 2000. Psychological treatment of psychogenic idiopathic environmental intolerance. Occup. Med. 15:627-646
97. Staudenmayer H, Binkley KE, Leznoff A, Phillips S. 2003. Idiopathic environmental intolerance. Part 2: a causation analysis applying Bradford Hill's criteria to the psychogenic theory. Toxicol. Rev. 22:247-261 (Pubitemid 38997054)
98. 2. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 108:143-152
99. Storbeck J, Clore GL. 2007. On the interdependence of cognition and emotion. Cogn. Emot. 21:1212-1237
100. Sumathipala A. 2007. What is the evidence for the efficacy of treatments for somatoform disorders? A critical review of previous intervention studies. Psychosom. Med. 69:889-900
101. Tak LM Bakker SJ, Rosmalen JG. 2009. Dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and functional somatic symptoms: a longitudinal cohort study in the general population. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34:869-877
102. Tellegen A, Atkinson G. 1974. Openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences ("absorption"), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 83:268-277
103. Thayer JF, Brosschot JF. 2005. Psychosomatics and psychopathology: looking up and down from the brain. Psychoneuroendocrinology 30:1050-1058
104. Thomson AB, Page LA. 2007. Psychotherapies for hypochondriasis. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 17(4):CD006520
105. Toft T, Fink P, Oernboel E, Christensen K, Frostholm L, Olesen F. 2005. Mental disorders in primary care: prevalence and comorbidity among disorders. Results from the Functional Illness in Primary Care (FIP) study. Psychol. Med. 35:1175-1184
106. Van Den Bergh O, Devriese S, Winters W, Veulemans H, Nemery B, et al. 2001. Acquiring symptoms in response to odors: a learning perspective on multiple chemical sensitivity. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 933:278-290
107. Van Den Bergh O, Stegen K, Van De Woestijne KP. 1997. Learning to have psychosomatic complaints: conditioning of respiratory behavior and somatic complaints in psychosomatic patients. Psychosom. Med. 59:13-23
108. Warwick HM, Salkovskis PM. 1990. Hypochondriasis. Behav. Res. Ther. 28:105-117
109. Wells A. 1990. Panic disorder in association with relaxation induced anxiety: an attentional training approach to treatment. Behav. Ther. 21:273-280
110. Wessely S, Nimnuan C, Sharpe M. 1999. Functional somatic syndromes: one or many? Lancet 354:936-939
111. Williams J, Hadjistavropoulos T, Sharpe D. 2006. A meta-analysis of psychological and pharmacological treatments for body dysmorphic disorder. Behav. Res. Ther. 44:99-111
112. Williams P. 2004. The psychopathology of self-assessed health: a cognitive approach to health anxiety and hypochondriasis. Cogn. Ther. Res. 28:629-644
113. Witthöft M, Rist F, Bailer J. 2006. Selective attention, memory bias, and symptom perception in idiopathic environmental intolerance and somatoform disorders. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 115:397-407
114. Witthöft M, Rist F, Bailer J. 2008. Evidence for a specific link between the personality trait of absorption and idiopathic environmental intolerance. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health A 71:795-802