Somatoform disorders as disorders of affect regulation: a development perspective

Area of Science:

• Psychosomatic Medicine
• Clinical Psychology
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Contemporary psychosomatic medicine links emotion regulation deficits to somatization.
• Alexithymia, a construct related to affect regulation, is frequently studied in somatoform disorders.
• Attachment theory offers insights into the developmental origins of emotion regulation difficulties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the role of affect regulation disturbances in the development and course of somatoform disorders.
• To review empirical research on the association between affect regulation and somatoform disorders, focusing on alexithymia.
• To explore the link between attachment styles and affect dysregulation in somatoform disorders.

Main Methods:

• Review of contemporary theories in psychosomatic medicine.
• Synthesis of recent empirical research on affect regulation and somatoform disorders.
• Analysis of attachment research, including new data on dismissing attachment in somatoform disorder patients.

Main Results:

• Somatoform disorders are associated with a reduced capacity to consciously experience, differentiate, and express affects.
• A dismissing attachment status is linked to defensive emotional processing and expression.
• Dismissing attachment strategies in somatoform disorder patients strongly correlate with affect dysregulation.

Conclusions:

• Impaired affect regulation, particularly alexithymia and dismissing attachment, plays a significant role in somatoform disorders.
• Attachment research provides valuable insights into the developmental roots of these difficulties.
• Findings have implications for psychotherapeutic interventions targeting affect regulation in somatoform disorders.