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Mental Illness

Somatoform & Dissociative Disorders Section III. Mental Illness. Somatoform Disorders. Why can’t the prince walk?

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Mental Illness

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  1. Somatoform & Dissociative DisordersSection III Mental Illness

  2. Somatoform Disorders • Why can’t the prince walk? • There is an ancient Persian legend about a physician named Rhazes who was called into the palace for the purpose of diagnosing and treating a young prince. Apparently, the prince could not walk. After the usual examination of the day, Rhazes determined that there was nothing wrong with the prince’s legs, at least not physically. With little more than a hunch, Rhazes set out to treat what may be the first recorded case of conversion. In doing so, he took a risk: Rhazes unexpectedly walked into the prince’s bathroom brandishing a dagger and threatened to kill him. Upon seeing him, “the startled prince abruptly fled, leaving his clothes, his dignity, his symptom, and undoubtedly part of his self-esteem behind.”

  3. Somatoform Disorders • Definition: a condition in which there is no apparent physical cause • physical symptoms brought about by psychological distress.

  4. Somatoform Disorders • Conversion Disorders: changing emotional difficulties into a loss of a specific voluntary body function • EXAMPLE • Conversion disorder persists (not simply “scared stiff”) • la belle indifference – accepting loss of function with relative calm • This is how we know it is psychological not physiological

  5. Somatoform Disorders • Hypochondriasis: a person in good health who becomes preoccupied with imaginary ailments is a hypochondriac • First year med students • Young adulthood

  6. Dissociative Disorders • Dissociative Disorder: disorder in which a person experiences alterations in memory, identify, or consciousness • Amnesia, multiple personality • Dissociative Amnesia: the inability to recall important personal events or information; is usually associated with stressful events • Often results from a traumatic event • May be an attempt to escape from problems

  7. Dissociative Disorders • Dissociative Fugue: a dissociative disorder in which a person suddenly and unexpectedly travels away from home or work and is unable to recall the past • State may last for days or decades • When the person comes out of the fugue they will have no memory of what happened in the interim • Possibly serves as an escape from unbearable conflict or anxiety

  8. Dissociative Disorders • Dissociative Identity Disorder (previously multiple personality disorder): • Person exhibits two or more personality states, each with its own patterns of thinking and behaving • Eve White • Eve Black • Jane

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