___________ disorder involves a person having persistent body related symptoms which may or may not be related to any serious medical condition.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Somatic symptom disorder
Option (1) Illness anxiety disorder — Incorrect. It involves persistent preoccupation about developing a serious illness and constant worry about this possibility. The person worries about an illness that may come, rather than suffering persistent bodily symptoms now.
Option (2) Somatic symptom disorder — Correct. It involves a person having persistent body-related symptoms which may or may not be related to any serious medical condition. Such people are overly preoccupied with their symptoms, keep worrying about their health and make frequent visits to doctors.
Option (3) Conversion disorder — Incorrect. Here the person suffers a loss or impairment of a motor or sensory function, such as paralysis or blindness, that has no physical cause but may be a response to stress. It is a sudden loss of a function, not continuing worry over symptoms.
Option (4) Post-Traumatic stress disorder — Incorrect. PTSD follows a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a bomb blast, a serious accident or war. Its symptoms are recurrent dreams, flashbacks, impaired concentration and emotional numbing, not persistent bodily complaints.
NCERT (2025-26): “Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders … These are conditions in which there are physical symptoms in the absence of a physical disease. In these disorders, the individual has psychological difficulties and complains of physical symptoms, for which there is no biological cause. These include conversion disorders, somatic symptom disorder, and illness anxiety disorder among others. Somatic symptom disorder involves a person having persistent body-related symptoms which may or may not be related to any serious medical condition. People with this disorder tend to be overly preoccupied with their symptoms and they continually worry about their health and make frequent visits to doctors. As a result, they experience significant distress and disturbances in their daily life. Illness anxiety disorder involves persistent preoccupation about developing a serious illness and constantly worrying about this possibility. This is accompanied by anxiety about one’s health. Individuals with illness anxiety disorder are overly concerned about undiagnosed disease, negative diagnostic results, do not respond to assurance by doctors, and are easily alarmed about illness such as on hearing about someone else's ill-health or some such news.…” “Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders … Very often people who have been caught in a natural disaster (such as tsunami) or have been victims of bomb blasts by terrorists, or been in a serious accident or in a war-related situation, experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD symptoms vary widely but may include recurrent dreams, flashbacks, impaired concentration, and emotional numbing.…” |