Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T19:07:21.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Nature of Bodily Symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Richard Mayou*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford

Summary

Psychiatric descriptions of bodily symptoms have usually been derived from narrowly restricted clinical experience. It is argued that it is more useful to review evidence from all medical settings and occurrence, nature, disability and presentation are here discussed. Syndromes of hypochondriacal reactions appear to be extreme and uncommon manifestations of a universal potential.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agras, S., Sylvester, D. & Oliveau, D. (1969) The epidemiology of common fears and phobias. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 10, 151–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Apley, J. & Hale, B. (1973) Children with recurrent abdominal pain: how do they grow up? British Medical Journal, iii, 79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balint, M. (1964) The Doctor, his Patient and the Illness. London: Pitman.Google Scholar
Bianchi, G. N. (1971) Patterns of hypochondriasis: a principal components analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 541–8.Google Scholar
Burns, B. H. & Nicholls, M. A. (1971) Factors related to the localization of symptoms to the chest pain in depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 405–10.Google Scholar
Hollingshead, A. B. & Redlich, F. G. (1958) Social Class and Mental Illness: a Community Study. New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenyon, F. E. (1964) Hypochondriasis: a clinical study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 110, 478–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenyon, F. E. (1965) Hypochondriasis: a survey of some historical, clinical and social aspects. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 38, 117–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kreitman, N., Sainsbury, , Pearce, K. & Costain, W. R. (1965) Hypochondriasis and depression in outpatients at a general hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 607–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, I. M. (1969) Fears and Phobias. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Mayou, R. A. (1973) Chest pain in the cardiac clinic. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 17, 353–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayou, R. A. (1975a) Social setting of hysteria. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 466–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayou, R. A. (1975b) Psychological morbidity in a clinic for sexually transmitted disease. British Journal of Venereal Disease, 51.Google Scholar
Mechanic, D. (1968) Medical Sociology. Glencoe: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Merskey, H. & Spear, F. (1967) Pain: Psychological and Psychiatric Aspects. London: Baillière, Tindall & Cox.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. (1972) Bereavement. London: Tavistock.Google ScholarPubMed
Ryle, J. A. (1948) Nosophobia. Journal of Mental Science, 94, 117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shepherd, M., Cooper, B., Brown, A. C. & Kalton, G. W. (1966) Psychiatric Illness in General Practice. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, M. E. J., Butterfield, W. I. H. & Blarey, R. (1972) Health and Sickness, the Choice of Treatment. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.