Abstract

This study investigated the characteristics of illness behavior of somatoform disorder patients using Illness Behavior Questionnaire(IBQ) and Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire(SIQ). For this purpose, we compared somatoform disorder group(n=45), mood disorder group(n=81) and anxiety disorder group(n=27) on the subscales of IBQ and SIQ. The result showed that somatoform disorder group scored higher on disease affirmation and general hypochondriasis compared with mood disorder group. Anxiety disorder group scored higher on general hypochondriasis compared with mood disorder group. There was no difference on denial and affective disturbance between three groups. In regard to symptom interpretation, somatoform disorder group and anxiety disorder group are more likely to attribute symptoms to physical cause and emotional cause than mood disorder group. To find out which variables are most relevant to somatic complaints of psychiatric patients in general, regression analysis was conducted. Two variables, disease affirmation and physical attribution, were significant. They explained 19.4% of the variance of somatic symptoms. Finally, suggestions and limitations of the study were discussed.