Somatic Symptoms and Related Disorders, Dissociative Disorders

When a client presents physical ailments for which no medical evidence confirms a condition, the client’s pain may not simply go away. Rather, the pain may persist, further disrupting the client’s life. In these cases, psychological evaluations may be used to determine if any psychological disorders exist. Specifically, somatic symptom, conversion, and factitious disorders, as well as dissociative disorders may be considered for the client’s diagnosis. Additionally, psychologists may also evaluate whether other confounding factors, such as environmental and/or individual variables, influence a diagnosis.

For this Discussion, review the case study in the Learning Resources. Consider the presenting symptoms of the client and any confounding factors that may influence diagnosis.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 3 a diagnosis for the female in the case study and explain your rationale for assigning these diagnoses on the basis of the DSM. Consider the presenting symptoms of the client and any confounding factors that may influence diagnosis. Then describe three confounding factors that may influence client diagnosis and why. Be specific.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources and current literature.

Resources

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
  • Somatic Symptoms and Related Disorders
  • Dissociative Disorders
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders
• Paris, J. (2015). The intelligent clinician’s guide to the DSM-5 (2nd ed.).New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Chapter 12, Substance Use, Eating, and Sexual Disorders
• Allen, K. L., Byrne, S. M., Oddy, W. H., & Crosby, R. D. (2013). DSM–IV–TR and DSM-5 eating disorders in adolescents: Prevalence, stability, and psychosocial correlates in a population-based sample of male and female adolescents. Journal Of Abnormal Psychology, 122(3), 720–732. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Arnold, C. (2012). Inside wrong body. Scientific American Mind, 23(2), 36–41. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• McFarland, M. B., & Petrie, T. A. (2012). Male body satisfaction: Factorial and construct validity of the body parts satisfaction scale for men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59(2), 329–337. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Stice, E., Marti, C., & Rohde, P. (2013). Prevalence, incidence, impairment, and course of the proposed DSM-5 eating disorder diagnoses in an 8-year prospective community study of young women. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(2), 445–457. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Media

• Laureate Education. (Producer). (2012). Psychopathology: Somatic and related disorders, and dissociative disorders. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu 

Answer preview

Somatic symptoms and related disorders, dissociative disorders are such as factitious disorders, conversion disorders, and illness anxiety disorders. Such disorders should be considered in patients complaining of physical ailments that medical evidence cannot confirm a specific condition in the patients. In most instances, psychological evaluations are necessary to establish whether a patient may have a certain psychological disorder. Confounding factors like environmental or individual aspects should also be considered during evaluations since they also influence a diagnosis.

Based on the case study, the diagnosis for the female is conversion disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual…