Are your patient's medically unexplained symptoms really "all in her head"?

Medical Hypotheses
Laurie Endicott Thomas

Abstract

Even though the definitions in the third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual were supposed to be descriptions of clinical syndromes, the third and later editions of the DSM have included diagnostic categories for conversion disorder and various forms of somatization disorder, which represent an assertion of causality, not an observation of a clinical syndrome. Although these "disorders" represent etiologic diagnoses, the definitions provide no validated method for establishing causality in individual cases. Nor is there any validated methodology for making a presumptive diagnosis. Thus, it is impossible to make a diagnosis of conversion disorder or a somatization disorder without making an error in reasoning. These diagnostic categories should therefore be excluded from the DSM-V.

References

Dec 5, 1991·The New England Journal of Medicine·J P Kassirer
Dec 16, 2000·The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice·C S Smith, D S Paauw
Jun 28, 2005·Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences·Rick Mayes, Allan V Horwitz
Jul 21, 2005·Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology·Mervi ViljamaaPekka Collin

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Sep 7, 2013·Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM·Thor Eirik EriksenRani Lill Anjum

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases occur as a result of an attack by the immune system on the body’s own tissues resulting in damage and dysfunction. There are different types of autoimmune diseases, in which there is a complex and unknown interaction between genetics and the environment. Discover the latest research on autoimmune diseases here.