Research Paper Title

Are somatoform disorders ‘mental disorders’? A contribution to the current debate.

Background

During the last 2 years, a debate has started over whether the somatoform symptoms/medically unexplained symptoms are wrongly placed under the category of mental disorders (section F in International classification of diseases-10 and in Diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders-IV).

Recent Findings

Most experts on medically unexplained symptoms agree that there is a substantial need for revision of the diagnoses of somatoform disorders. While some authors suggest moving the somatoform disorders from axis I to axis III, others suggest improving the classification of these syndromes on axis I, such as by using empirically derived criteria and by introducing psychological descriptors which justify the categorisation as a mental disorder.

In contrast to the situation when the last version of Diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders was published, new empirical data has shown some psychological and behavioural characteristics of patients with somatoform symptoms. These and other empirically founded approaches can be landmarks for the revision of this section in Diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders-V and International classification of diseases-11.

Summary

The classification of somatoform disorders as ‘mental disorders’ could be justified if empirically founded psychological and behavioural characteristics are included into the classification process.

Attention focusing, symptom catastrophising, and symptom expectation are outlined as possible examples of involved psychological processes.

Reference

Rief, W. & Isaac, M. (2020) Are somatoform disorders ‘mental disorders’? A contribution to the current debate. Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 20(2), pp.143-146. doi: 10.1097/YCO.0b013e3280346999.