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somatoform disorder

in DSM–IV–TR, any of a group of disorders marked by physical symptoms suggesting a specific medical condition for which there is no demonstrable biological evidence and for which there is positive evidence or a strong probability that they are linked to psychological factors. The symptoms must cause marked distress or significantly impair normal social or occupational functioning. The group includes somatization disorder, undifferentiated somatoform disorder, conversion disorder, pain disorder, hypochondriasis, and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Of these, only conversion disorder and BDD have been retained as formal diagnoses in DSM–5, either classified with other similar diagnostic entities within a new somatic category, somatic symptom and related disorders, or in the case of BDD, removed from nominal somatic classification and grouped under a different rubric altogether (see obsessive-compulsive disorder). The other somatoform disorders have been eliminated, although some of their symptomatic features have been retained as specifiers or criteria for new somatic diagnoses (e.g., somatic symptom disorder).

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November 18th 2024