Somatization: a spectrum of severity

Article Abstract:

Somatization describes patients who complain of physical symptoms for which no physical basis can be found. To meet the diagnostic criteria of somatization, the patient must complain of over a dozen medically unexplainable symptoms. Previous research suggests that patients with the condition are rare and that there are far more persons who have fewer than 13 medically unexplained symptoms. Somatization is frequently accompanied by symptoms of depression and anxiety. The number of symptoms required for diagnosis was determined by the agreement of committee members of the DSM-III-R, a diagnostic manual for psychiatric disorders. It is not clear whether patients with this specific number of symptoms can be differentiated from patients with fewer but nevertheless substantial numbers of symptoms. Fifty-one percent of 767 patients in two clinics achieved a high score on a tests measuring anxiety, depression, or somatization. One hundred nineteen patients out of this group were randomly assigned to a treatment group and they were separated into four categories based upon the number of somatic complaints they had. The data suggest that many behavioral and clinical features of somatization are significantly more common in patients with between 4 and 12 unexplained somatic symptoms than among those with the magic number 13. It is suggested that future versions of the DSM make distinctions between different possible types of somatization disorder that do not require an arbitrary number of symptoms for formal diagnosis. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Evaluation, Diagnosis, Somatoform disorders, Demographic aspects, Diagnosis, Differential, Differential diagnosis

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From genetics to pathophysiology - candidate genes

Article Abstract:

Determining mental illness may be attributed to neurotransmitter-related genes. Genes for neurotransmitter receptors and proteins which play a role in transmitter biosynthesis, storage, release, message transduction, metabolism and breakdown, are probable candidates. The disadvantage of using the candidate gene approach is the limited justification for considering one gene expressed in the adult brain to be a better candidate than the next gene.

Research, Physiological aspects, Mental illness, Mental disorders, Physiology, Pathological, Pathological physiology, Neurotransmitters

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