Purely Psychosomatic Trivia Quiz

Answer: Excessive concern over body image

Those who suffer from body dysmorphic disorder are extremely concerned about body image. This concern can dominate their lives and many will do outrageous things in an attempt to alleviate or correct their perceived imperfections. This disorder may cause the sufferer to focus on just one feature or on many features.

Many sufferers will undergo multiple plastic surgeries which only very rarely alleviate the problem. This somatoform disorder, as with most disorders of this type, usually co-occurs along with social anxiety, self-isolation, and depression.

Answer: Loss of physical body functions

A conversion disorder is a type of that can cause paralysis, blindness and other losses of bodily function as the result of excessive anxiety, as opposed to a specific disease or injury. In the past, this was known as "hysteria" and has been described in most of the oldest medical text books.

Some behaviors that have been noted are the assumption of bizarre postures, loss of speech, inability to swallow, fainting and occasionally mass hysteria in a group has been observed.

Answer: Painful sexual intercourse

Dyspareunia is the clinical term for painful sexual intercourse. This is sometimes caused by medical disease, infection, or malformation of the genitalia. When these possibilities have been explored and dismissed, than somatoform dyspareunia is usually diagnosed.

This simply means the pain is caused by psychological reasons as opposed to physical reasons. This disorder is much more common in women and some patients may suffer from it throughout their adult life. This disorder can cause great stress, depression, and the inability to form long-lasting personal relationships.

Answer: Nocebo effect

A nocebo effect is when a person is given a harmless substance and than experiences negative health effects; it is the opposite of a placebo effect. The patient may be given a sugar pill and then experience pain, nausea, or other negative symptoms. In a placebo effect the patient experiences positive side effects. Both responses are entirely psychogenic and are usually related to the patient's expectations.

Answer: Chronic fatigue syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), is the term for a disorder of unknown etiology, that is characterized by headaches, joint pain, memory loss, and severe physical fatigue. This poorly understood disorder is a topic of much controversy in the medical and psychological fields.

The diagnosis is given only after exhaustive testing shows no underlying medical condition and the symptoms are resistant to being relieved by rest and/or medication. It should be noted that there have been many disorders in the past that were poorly understood and were misdiagnosed as malingering, demon possession, or hysteria, only to be found to have a physical cause as medicine improved.

The other three options are all genetic in nature.

Answer: Abdominal distension, morning sickness, weight gain

Pseudocyesis is when a patient is convinced she is pregnant when she is not. She may even stop having monthly periods, develop a distended stomach, suffer morning sickness as well as other signs of pregnancy. Doctors are sometimes fooled. This usually occurs in women who desperately want to have a child but can be experienced by women who have already had a child. Treatment for this disorder include hypnosis, massage, opioids, and even "hysterical childbirth".

Some women refuse to believe that they are not pregnant and think that they can feel the "child" moving. Abdominal distention is the most common symptom, but when the patient is put under anesthesia, the distention will disappear.

Answer: The sufferer believes his genitalia is shrinking/disappearing

Koro is a disorder originally found in eastern Asia. The sufferer believes that his penis is shrinking or disappearing inside of his body. In Asia, many believe the disorder to be fatal. This disorder sometimes appears as a type mass hysteria and many sufferers complain of pain and severe anxiety.

This disorder is found in other parts of the world with slight variations in symptomatology. Treatment is psychotherapy and/or folk medicine depending on the location of the patient. Folk medicine containing animal penis, antlers, and bone is often used.

Answer: Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a disorder of unknown etiology that is characterized by chronic pain and sensitivity to pressure of any kind. Some medical care professionals consider this disorder to be somatic in nature. This is a poorly understood disorder that may have many possible causes. Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of exclusion.

This means all other possible causes have been examined and dismissed. Treatments include pain medications and psychotherapy, both of which have had limited success.

Answer: False

Hypochondriasis is a somatoform disorder in which the person becomes preoccupied with their health and disease. Patients with this disorder suffer real aches and pains that do not have a legitimate physical cause. This disorder can cause great stress and depression. Hypochondriasis differs from malingering and factitious disorders which are deliberatly fabricated for secondary motives.

Answer: False

Malingering is the fabrication of symptoms for secondary motives. Nor are these disorders the same as factitious disorders, which involve deliberately producing or faking symptoms, usually for attention. It usually takes years before a somatoform disorder is diagnosed and it is usually a diagnosis of exclusion.