NRNP – 6665 Week 10: Somatic Symptom-Related Disorders
NRNP – 6665 Week 10: Somatic Symptom-Related Disorders
Patients with somatic symptom-related disorders suffer from disproportionate feelings, thoughts, or behaviors related to physical symptoms. These disorders may manifest as excessive anxiety given the severity of a diagnosis or as pain or symptoms that don’t have a specific physical cause and are then attributed to psychological factors. Although it may be easier for some to understand and accept a physical diagnosis, somatic symptom-related disorders demonstrate the amazing connection between mind and body. NRNP – 6665 Week 10: Somatic Symptom-Related Disorders
This week, you will explore the relationship between cognitive and physical symptoms in somatic symptom-related disorders.
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2015). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry (11th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
- Chapter 13, “Psychosomatic Medicine”
Thapar, A., Pine, D. S., Leckman, J. F., Scott, S., Snowling, M. J., & Taylor, E. A. (2015). Rutter’s child and adolescent psychiatry (6th ed.). Wiley Blackwell.
- Chapter 72, “Somatoform and Other Related Disorders”
Required Media (click to expand/reduce)
Osmosis. (2017, April 3). Somatic symptom disorder – causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, pathology [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/oVO7tZS2ZdI
KeltyMentalHealth. (2014, November 5). Body talk: Stories of somatization. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wycDLD0Bxo
The Feed SBS. (2015, April 30). Conversion disorder. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwQAkgq7-e8
Assessing, Diagnosing, and Treating Patients With Somatic Symptom-Related Disorders
Effectively treating patients with somatic symptom-related disorders begins with comprehensive assessment and understanding of the symptoms and duration of the patient’s complaints. As a practitioner, you will need to listen to your patients and know what questions to ask in order to elicit the information that will allow you to determine the most effective diagnosis. You will have to do this while understanding that there could be more than one disorder contributing to the symptoms that are disrupting their daily lives. When you believe you have established the diagnosis, you must then consider a course of treatment that will work best for a particular patient. For the same disorder, both pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments may be considered depending on the needs of the patient.
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There is no Assignment due this week. You should spend this week reviewing the Learning Resources on somatic symptom-related disorders and preparing for your final exam, which you will take next week. NRNP – 6665 Week 10: Somatic Symptom-Related Disorders
What’s Coming Up in Week 11?
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In Week 11, the final week of the course, you will consider disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders. By the end of the week, you will also complete your final exam, which covers material from Week 7 through Week 11.
Next Week
Module 3: Assessing, Diagnosing, and Treating Neurocognitive, Neurodevelopmental, Dissociative, Somatic Symptom-Related, Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders
In Module 3, you will continue to apply the knowledge that you have gained throughout your program as you practice assessing, diagnosing, and formulating treatment plans for a variety of mental health disorders that are found across the lifespan. Week 7 covers neurocognitive disorders, which describe diminished mental functioning due to causes such as brain injury and degenerative disorders. In Week 8, you will turn to neurodevelopmental disorders, which encompass a variety of disorders that occur due to abnormalities in the developmental trajectory. Dissociative disorders are the focus of Week 9, which involve a significant disconnect between thoughts and feelings and reality. Somatic symptom-related disorders, which occur when patients encounter disproportionate reactions to physical symptoms, will be explored in Week 10. In the last week of the course, you will explore disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders, which are all rooted in a lack of self-control. The effective PMHNP will have a command of these disorders in order to prepare for the certification exam and be able to recognize them in the practice setting.
What’s Happening This Module?
Module 3—Assessing, Diagnosing, and Treating Neurocognitive, Neurodevelopmental, Dissociative, Somatic Symptom-Related, Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders—is a 5-week module that continues to focus on assessment, diagnosis, and treatment plans for a variety of disorders the PMHNP will need to identify to be an effective practitioner. NRNP – 6665 Week 10: Somatic Symptom-Related Disorders