'Pseudoneurological' symptoms, dissociation and stress-related psychopathology in healthy young adults

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Authors	BOB Petr SÉLEŠOVÁ Petra RABOCH Jiří KUKLA Lubomír
Year of publication	2013
Type	Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source	BMC Psychiatry
MU Faculty or unit	Faculty of Science
Citation
Web	http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/13/149
Doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-149
Field	Psychiatry, sexuology
Keywords	PSYCHOFORM DISSOCIATION; DISORDERS; SOMATOFORM; ALEXITHYMIA; MODEL; PAIN
Description	Background: Somatoform dissociation is a specific form of dissociation with somatic manifestations represented in the form of 'pseudoneurological' symptoms due to disturbances or alterations of normal integrated functions of consciousness, memory or identity mainly related to trauma and other psychological stressors. With respect to the distinction between psychological and somatoform manifestations of dissociation current data suggest a hypothesis to which extent mild manifestations of 'pseudoneurological' symptoms in healthy young population may be linked to stress-related psychopathological symptoms or whether these symptoms more likely could be attributed to unexplained somatic factors. Methods: With this aim we have assessed the relationship between somatoform dissociation and stress-related psychopathology (i.e. anxiety, depression, symptoms of traumatic stress, alexithymia) in a group of 250 healthy non-psychiatric and non-clinical young adults. Results: Results of this study show that the symptoms of somatoform dissociation are significantly linked to stress-related psychopathology. Conclusions: Findings of this study show that the 'pseudoneurological' symptoms may be linked to stress-related psychopathological processes which indicate that also mild levels of stress may influence somatic feelings and may lead to various somatoform dissociative symptoms.