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Assessing Somatization With Various Diagnostic Criteria

Received November 23, 2006; accepted December 4, 2006. From the Dept. of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Dept. of Psychiatry, State University of New York at Buffalo; Dept. of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; The Psychosomatic Unit, Scientific Institute of Gastroenterology, IRCCS De Bellis Hospital, Castellana Grotte, Italy; Dept. of Statistical Sciences, University of Padova, and the Dept. of Mental Health, Padova. Italy. Send correspondence and reprint requests to Giovanni A. Fava, M.D., Dipartimento di Psicologia. Viale Berti Pichat, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy. e-mail: giovanniandrea.fava{at}unibo.it
© 2009 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine

BACKGROUND: Somatization is a widespread clinical phenomenon that cuts across diagnostic categories, both psychiatric and medical. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates whether somatization can be assessed with a comprehensive diagnostic system, the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research (DCPR) in gastroenterology and cardiology (myocardial infarction) patients. METHOD: Authors assessed a group of 343 outpatients, 190 gastroenterology and 153 cardiology outpatients, with functional gastrointestinal disorders and recent first myocardial infarction. RESULTS: A total of 146 patients were diagnosed by the DCPR Somatization cluster and 106 by the DCPR Abnormal Illness Behavior cluster; 27 patients who met DSM–IV criteria for somatoform disorders were not classified with any DCPR somatization syndromes, whereas 120 with DCPR Somatization cluster did not satisfy the criteria for DSM–IV somatoform disorders. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that the DCPR is able to identify clinical and subthreshold psychosomatic syndromes and that it can used jointly with the DSM–IV.

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