Author: Sheehan, Bart

Source: Aging Health, Volume 2, Number 6, December 2006 , pp. 1035-1039(5)

Publisher: Future Medicine

Abstract:

Somatoform disorders are presentations where physical symptoms worry a patient, there is no organic pathology to explain them, but reassurance fails. They represent a murky borderland between medicine and psychiatry and understanding has not been helped by the plethora of terms used in this area. A typical scenario would be a 68-year-old woman who was recently widowed complaining to a general practitioner of headache, trouble sleeping, tiredness and muscle pain. Blood tests are negative but the patient says “there must be something wrong”. Faced with uncertainty, clinicians may easily fall back on a fruitless path of investigations and referrals. There is plenty of knowledge regarding somatoform disorders among younger people (who have fewer physical illnesses), but much less regarding older people. This article focuses on what is known about these disorders in older people, a practical way forward and what may develop in the future.

Keywords: cognitive behavior therapy; hypochondriasis; medicolegal; older; primary care; secondary care; somatoform; uncertainty

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2217/1745509X.2.6.1035

Affiliations: 1: Health Sciences Research Institute, Medical School Building, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK., Email: B.Sheehan@warwick.ac.uk

Publication date: 2006-12-01

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• Aging Health leading coverage of current and emerging topics relating to the safe and effective management of therapy in the elderly, all subject to rigorous peer review. The journal focuses on the most important advances and highlights their relevance in the clinical setting. The journal has been designed to deliver essential concise information in an easily assimilable format - vital for the increasingly time-constrained professional.
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