title: Do the various categories of somatoform disorders differ from each other in symptom profile and psychological correlates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In routine clinical practice, the subcategories of various somatoform disorders are rarely used by the primary care physicians and there is lack of data to suggest any difference in the clinical manifestations of these subcategories.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare the symptom profile, anxiety, depression, alexithymia, somato-sensory amplification and hypochondriasis of patients with persistent somatoform pain disorder with other subtypes of somatoform disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 119 patients diagnosed with somatoform disorders according to the International Classification of Diseases-10th Revision (ICD-10) were evaluated for prevalence of somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, alexithymia, hypochondriacal worry and somato-sensory amplification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences were found in the prevalence of various somatic complaints between those with persistent somatoform pain disorder group and those diagnosed with other somatoform disorders. Co-morbid anxiety and depression were seen in two-thirds of the patients, but again there was no difference in the prevalence of the same between the two groups. Similarly, no significant differences were found on alexithymia, hypochondriasis and somato-sensory amplification scales between the persistent somatoform pain disorder group and the group with other somatoform disorders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are no significant differences between the various subcategories of somatoform disorders with regard to the prevalence of somatic symptoms, anxiety or depression and psychological correlates of alexithymia, hypochondriasis and somato-sensory amplification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India drsandeepg2002@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Jitender
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aneja
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Akhilesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Rama
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malhotra
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Sannidhya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Varma
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Debasish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Ajit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avasthi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Somatoform disorder; alexithymia; nosology