PSY340H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Somatic Symptom Disorder, Psychosomatic Medicine
Document Summary
Look like something biological when they are not. Involve physiological and neurological symptoms, something biological, when in fact it turns out they do not, they are psychiatric and psychological in nature. First we will talk about somatoform disorders, these are not to be confused with psychosomatic disorders. Psychosomatic disorders are physical ailments are physiological conditions that have psychological causes, caused by a psychological change. Are illness due to compromised immune system due to stress affect of the mind on the body. Example of a physical ailment caused by psychological symptoms is the hiv herpes virus. It comes back in response to stress because it hides in the body and is reappears when the body is stressed . The immune system is compromised by stress and the virus manifests itself. Somatoform disorders are physical ailments that cannot be explained by organic conditions, they appear to be biological but we cannot find a biological or physiological cause/root.
