Somatoform pain disorder

  Ms. Q is in her 50s and has been retired for three years, her children are out of town and there is little pressure on her finances, so she should be living a comfortable life, but the pain in her whole body in the past three years has caused her a lot of pain, firstly, in the first year, she often felt swelling in the top and back of her head, her neck was sore, and her whole body hurt when the cold wind blew, which was indescribably unbearable. In the next year, there was constant back pain and chest pain, and in the last year, it became a pain in the stomach and swelling, no strength in both legs, and frequent numbness and tingling of the skin.  Ms. Q felt that she could not be cured and was in a very bad mood. After listening to the advice of several doctors, she reluctantly came to the clinical psychology department of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital for consultation, and was quickly diagnosed by the psychologist as “Ms. Q began to believe it, but after half a month of taking the medication prescribed by the doctor, the stubborn pain all over the body surprisingly improved by half, mood also improved significantly, Ms. Q and her husband felt very incredible, such a stubborn “difficult disease “The doctor prescribed medication for half a month, but the stubborn pain was half better, and the mood was significantly improved.  In fact, “somatoform pain disorder” is a common disease in the clinical psychology department, mainly manifested as persistent pain and discomfort in various parts of the body, the patient feels very painful, but medical examination does not find any organic lesions at the pain site, the typical pain site is head and facial pain, low back pain or chronic pelvic pain, pain can be located in the body surface, deep tissue or visceral organs. The nature of the pain can be vague dull pain, swelling, soreness or sharp pain, sometimes combined with fear of cold, abnormal skin sensation, such as numbness, pins and needles, etc. However, there is no positive result from instruments and laboratory tests, so it is not easy for clinicians to make a diagnosis, and patients tend to repeatedly go to the doctor and repeat tests, spend a lot of money and take a lot of medicine, but no effect; this kind of pain is often closely related to psychological factors or emotional conflicts. Most patients have depression, anxiety, distress, and insomnia, and the symptoms of somatic pain are causally related to each other, forming a vicious circle.  Studies have found that the pain symptoms and emotions of somatoform pain disorder are related to a decrease in the function of the neurotransmitter 5hydroxytryptamine in the brain, which can lead to a decrease in nociceptive and sensory thresholds, and patients become sensitive and more likely to feel pain.  Therefore, the treatment of somatoform pain disorders requires two aspects: first, drugs that increase the function of 5HT in the brain, which can treat both functional pain and depression and anxiety.  The second is psychotherapy. First of all, patients should realize that although pain is a real feeling, there is no organic lesion and it does not pose any threat to life and health, and learn to live with the symptoms. Family members are advised to establish a positive and correct family atmosphere and encourage the patient to learn self-regulation and get rid of dependence as soon as possible.  There are many patients in this category, and most of them have remarkable results as long as they adhere to the correct and standardized treatment, but most people do not know about this disease and do not know that they should visit the clinical psychology department.