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.
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