Read the passage and answer the following questions:
Rajan, a grade XII student, has been aspiring for medicine as a career. He has gone through a lot of challenges on the family- front, like moving into a new house, serious health issues, financial setbacks etc. Suddenly, a week before his entrance examination, he experienced numbness on the left side of his body and within the next few days he was unable to move entirely. He was hospitalized and couldn't appear for the entrance exam. Doctors did not find any physiological anomalies in his medical reports but identified psychological causes of the problem. Later, he recovered and is now pursuing his graduation.
Which of the following does not support somatic symptom and related disorders?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → People lose the sense of reality
Somatic symptom and related disorders are conditions in which the person has psychological difficulties but complains of physical symptoms for which there is no biological cause. The group includes somatic symptom disorder, illness anxiety disorder and conversion disorder. Each option is checked against this family.
Option (1) People experience persistent body-related issues — A feature of these disorders (Incorrect). Somatic symptom disorder involves persistent body-related symptoms, which may or may not be related to a serious medical condition; the person keeps worrying about health and visits doctors again and again.
Option (2) People are preoccupied with the idea of developing a disorder — A feature of these disorders (Incorrect). This is illness anxiety disorder: a persistent preoccupation about developing a serious illness, with anxiety about one’s health that the doctors’ assurance does not remove.
Option (3) People develop these symptoms all of a sudden — A feature of these disorders (Incorrect). In conversion disorder the person reports the loss of some basic body function, such as paralysis or blindness. These symptoms often come after a stressful experience and may be quite sudden, as Rajan’s numbness and paralysis were.
Option (4) People lose the sense of reality — Not a feature of these disorders (Correct). In somatic symptom disorders the person’s contact with reality is intact; the complaint is about the body. Feelings of unreality and estrangement belong to the dissociative disorders, and losing touch with reality through disturbed thought processes and strange perceptions marks psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.
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.…” “Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders … Illness anxiety disorder involves persistent preoccupation about developing a serious illness and constantly worrying about this possibility.…” “Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders … The symptoms of conversion disorders are the reported loss of part or all of some basic body functions. Paralysis, blindness, deafness and difficulty in walking are generally among the symptoms reported. These symptoms often occur after a stressful experience and may be quite sudden.…” “Dissociative Disorders … Dissociation can be viewed as severance of the connections between ideas and emotions. Dissociation involves feelings of unreality, estrangement, depersonalisation, and sometimes a loss or shift of identity.…” |