Provide an overview of the cognitive perspective on the etiology of somatic symptom disorders

What will be an ideal response?


Distorted perceptions may play a role in the etiology of the somatic symptom disorders. A cognitive process termed somatic amplification is a tendency to perceive bodily sensations as intense, noxious, and disturbing. This theory suggests that some people have heightened sensory, perceptual, and/or cognitive-evaluative processes that make them more sensitive to the presence of physical symptoms. Few studies have assessed how these cognitions contribute to the onset of the disorder. A second perspective proposes that somatic symptom disorders develop from inaccurate beliefs about (a) the prevalence and contagiousness of illnesses, (b) the meaning of bodily symptoms, and (c) the course and treatment of illnesses. These beliefs may be activated by hearing or reading about an illness or after perceiving vague bodily sensations. As a result, the person becomes hypervigilant about having, and perhaps dying from, the illness.

Psychology

You might also like to view...

The book describing the criteria for diagnosing psychological disorders is abbreviated ______

Fill in the blank(s) with correct word

Psychology

Changing the sentence "Jean gave Sid a birthday gift" to "Sid was given a birthday gift by Jean" illustrates the use of

a. the semantic differential. b. connotative meanings. c. transformation rules. d. conceptual rules.

Psychology

John Watson believed that psychology should involve the study of

A) behavior. B) the mind. C) the brain. D) consciousness.

Psychology

Which research approach is probably the best for exploring the genetic contribution to personality?

A) comparing identical twins who were reared apart B) comparing children adopted into another family with their siblings who remained with their birth parents C) comparing fraternal twins D) comparing identical twins who were raised in the same household

Psychology