Affiliations: Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und
Psychotherapie, Rheinische Kliniken Essen/ Universitätsklinik
Duisburg-Essen | Selbständige Abteilung für Medizinische
Psychologie und Medizinische Soziologie, Universität Leipzig
Note: [] Korrespondenzadresse: Dr. rer. medic. Dipl. Psych. Sefik Tagay,
Rheinische Kliniken Essen, Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und
Psychotherapie, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Virchowstraße 174, 45147
Essen, Tel.: 0201-9597021, E-mail: sefik.tagay@uni-due.de
Abstract: Introduction: The aim of the current study was to examine the
prevalence of somatoform symptoms and their attribution in four different
psychosomatic female outpatient groups. Methods: In a consecutive cross-sectional study 201 outpatients (age
39.1 years, SD 11.8) suffering from depression, anxiety disorders, somatoform
disorders, and eating disorders were assesssed with the Screening for
Somatoform Symptoms (SOMS-2). Results: The four diagnostic groups did not differ significantly in
the prevalence of somatoform complaints (p = 0.855). On average, each group
reported about 15 somatoform complaints. But there were some group differences
with regard to specific SOMS-items. Although patients with somatoform disorders did not report more
physical complaints than the other three diagnostic groups they were more
concerned with cognitions with regard to pain symptoms (p ⩽ 0.001). Discussion: Female patients with somatoform disorders did not report
more somatoform symptoms than female patients with depression, anxiety or
eating disorders.
