title: Psychological profile of somatizing patients attending the integrative clinic.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A clinic to evaluate and treat referred somatizing patients was established in the medicine clinic of a university medical center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-four patients were evaluated and compared to an age- and sex-matched non-somatizing patient group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Somatizing patients had increased rates of psychiatric and alcohol and substance abuse histories. Somatizing patients scored high on all subscales of the SCL-90 and were most frequently found in the Anxious/Moody Cluster of the MBHI. These patients also endorsed highly beliefs in medical problems as a focus of their lives.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These patients' psychological beliefs set the stage for conflict in the medical setting. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to liaison clinics, early identification, and treatment approaches.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry Department, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington 40535-0080.
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Dickson
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Hays
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scherl
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schmitt
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology