Somatoform Disorders

Somatoform Disorders

Somatoform disorders are when a person’s psychological problem manifests (comes out) as a physiological (bodily) symptom.  The two you must know for the AP are hypochondriasis and conversion disorders.

1. Hypochondriasis is when a person complains of frequent, usually small, physical problems but the doctor can find nothing wrong with the patient.  The person sometimes will also believe that their headache is a brain tumor or their sore throat, the Ebola virus.  In hypochondriasis, these physical symptoms have psychological roots.

2. Conversion Disorder will report the existence of a severe physical problem but no biological cause can be found.  Many people that suffer from conversion disorder become blind after witnessing a horrible tragedy or paralyzed from the waist down the death of a loved one.

 Once again- the issue is that a psychological issue takes root in the body as a physical problem.