Associations between physical and psychological problems in a group of patients with stress-related behavior and somatoform disorders.
The research questions in this study were. How do patients with stress-related behavior and somatoform disorders assess symptoms and self-image compared to healthy individuals, and how are these assessments related to bodily resources, assessed with a physiotherapeutic body examination? The test group (n = 31) consisted of consecutive patients referred to a treatment center specializing in psychosomatic problems. Significant differences (p < or = 0.01) were found between the test and comparison group (n = 22) on all but two of the ten subscales of the Resource-Oriented Body Examination (ROBE II). This was also the case for all the subscales of The Symptom Checklist-90(SCL-90; comparison group n = 52), and for all but three of the eight clusters of the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) (comparison group n = 52). For the patient group, the ROBE II subscale Increased respiratory control correlated significantly with the SCL-90 subscales that measures Anger-hostility, Phobic anxiety, Paranoid ideation, with the Personality Severity Index (PSI) and with the SASB clusters Daydreaming and self-neglect, Self-indictment and oppression with r's between 0.38 and 0.50. Body examination with ROBE II might provide a useful assessment tool in patients whose stress-related problems appear to contain associations between psychological and physical problems.
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Center for Clinical Research Dalarna, Sweden. kina.meurle-hallberg@ltdalarna.se
Kina
K
Meurle-Hallberg
Kerstin
K
Armelius
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011584:Psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden