An investigation of patients presenting with multiple physical complaints using the illness behaviour questionnaire

The Illness Behaviour Questionnaire was used to determine whether three groups of patients who had presented with multiple symptoms in different treatment settings (Briquet's syndrome, post-viral fatigue syndrome, and a heterogeneous general practice group) could be differentiated from one another and from a mixed group of psychiatric patients on the basis of their abnormal illness behaviour. All groups completed a version of the Perley and Guze diagnostic criteria for Briquet's syndrome. The three groups presenting with multiple symptoms were more similar to each other than to the psychiatric patients. The results suggest that patients presenting with multiple symptoms include similar populations of patients who are poorly distinguished using current schemes of classification.