Somatoform and Dissociative
Disorders
Lesson 16-3
Bell Ringer
• Read excerpt on p. 460
Somatoform Disorders
• Characterized by physical symptoms
brought on by psychological stress
– Physical symptoms for which there is no
apparent cause
– Also called hysteria
– Used by Sigmund Freud for unexplainable
fainting, paralysis, or deafness
Somatoform Disorders
• Two types of somatoform disorders
– Conversion disorder
– Hypochondriasis
Conversion Disorder
• Conversion disorder is changing emotional
difficulties into a loss of specific body
function
– No actual physical damage is present
– They usually accept the loss with relative calm
– They invent physical symptoms to gain
freedom from an unbearable conflict
Hypochondiasis
• Person spends time looking for signs of
serious illness
• Even after evaluations, they continue to
believe a disease exists
– Mainly in young adulthood
– Affects both males and females
Dissociative Disorders
• A disorder in which a person experiences
alterations in memory, identity, or consciousness
– Very rare
• Dissociative amnesia
– The inability to recall important personal events or
information; is usually associated with stressful events
– Not from normal forgetting, brain injuries, or traumatic
event
Dissociative Disorders
• Dissociative Fugue
– Amnesia where a person suddenly and
unexpectedly travels away from home or work
• Fugue state may last for days or weeks
• Usually to escape unbearable conflict or anxiety
• Will have no memory of it when they come out of it
Dissociative Disorders
• Dissociative Identity Disorder
– Previously known as multiple personality
disorder
– Person exhibits two or more personality states,
each with its own patterns of thinking and
behaving.
– Some believe it is an individual’s effort to
escape a part of themselves that they fear
– Extremely rare