PSY 245 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Sick Role, Psy, Psychogenic Amnesia
Document Summary
People with hypochondriasis unrealistically interpret bodily symptoms as signs of serious illness: often their symptoms are merely normal bodily changes, such as occasional coughing, sores, or sweating, hypersensitivity to/with bodily symptoms. Although some patients recognize that their concerns are excessive, many do not. Although this disorder can begin at any age, it starts most often in early adulthood, among men and women in equal numbers. Between 1 and 5% of all people experience the disorder. For most patients, symptoms wax and wane over time. Primary gain: hysterical symptoms keep internal conflicts out of conscious awareness. Secondary gain: hysterical symptoms further enable people to avoid unpleasant activities or to receive kindness or sympathy from others. Personality factors: historic pd (personality disorder), neuroticism. There are several kinds of dissociative disorders, including: These disorders are often memorably portrayed in books, movies, and television programming.
