218 PSYCHOLOGY
Answers: (a) Specific; (b) Agoraphobia; (c) Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).Somatoform Disorders: When the Body Is Involved
Somatoform disordersare disorders in which anxiety is converted into a bod-
ily symptom. Somais a Greek root meaning “body.” Consequently, in a somato-
form disorder, anxiety takes a somatic, or bodily, form. Four types of somatoform
disorders will be identified: (1) somatization disorder, (2) hypochondriacal disor-
der, (3) pain disorder, and (4) conversion disorder.
It is important to realize in all of the following disorders that the causal factors
associated with the disorders are primarily psychological and emotional. The per-
son does nothave a physical illness. However, the person’s symptoms resemblea
physical illness.
Somatization disorderis characterized by various complaints. Opal says she
suffers from diarrhea and bloating. Newton says his joints creak like old hinges.
Ramona says her muscles twitch for no reason. Sometimes the individual has
related sexual dysfunctions (see chapter 12).
Hypochondriacal disorder(orhypochondriasis) is characterized by irra-
tional worry about one’s health. Peggy has had two headaches in one week and
starts to think she’s getting cancer of the brain. Ivan for no particular reason fears
that he has diabetes. People who suffer from hypochondriasis often take excessive
numbers of vitamin pills or visit a string of physicians in a vain search for a non-
existent illness.(a) Somatoform disorders are disorders in which anxiety is converted into a
symptom.(b) Hypochondriacal disorder (or hypochondriasis) is characterized by irrational worry about
one’s.
Answers: (a) bodily; (b) health.Pain disorderis characterized by sustained painful sensations. Kristen says
that her back aches all the time. Ernest says that he suffers from frequent stomach
cramps. Renee says her bones ache. Physicians can find no organic basis for the
pain in any of these cases, and yet it cannot be said that the pain is not felt. Pain is
personal and private, a symptom, and an outside observer is in no position to deny
its subjective reality.
Conversion disorderis characterized, in most cases, by symptoms resem-
bling a neurological problem such as paralysis, inability to control a limb or limbs,
or loss of the capacity to see or hear. These are called pseudoneurological
symptoms,symptoms that are false signs of a neurological disorder. The older
term for conversion disorder is hysteria,and it is still sometimes used. Ancient