View clinical trials related to Medically Unexplained Symptoms.
Filter by:The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of physical and mental disorder in the population of patients with myocardial bridge and to describe the relationship between clinical features and the occurrence of somatic disorder.
This study investigates the feasibility of a general exposure-based treatment protocol that is intended to work for a large variety of patient groups with a clinically significant preoccupation with physical symptoms. This is a prospective single-group study based at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, where 40 adults with DSM-5 somatic symptom disorder are enrolled in 8 weeks of therapist-guided exposure-based treatment via the Internet. Exposure is based on general principles but tailored to suit the needs of each patient. Outcomes include patient-reported credibility and expectancy, adherence to the treatment protocol, client satisfaction, and negative events. Within-group effects will also be quantified and discussed in relation to the existing literature.
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a parent-only, group-based intervention intended to treat youth with chronic, unexplained medical symptoms such as (but not limited to) chronic fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, headache, and abdominal pain. Prior to and following the intervention, the child and parent(s) will be asked to complete several questionnaires about their well-being and functioning. The investigators predict that participation in this intervention will lead to change in relevant outcomes, including youth symptoms and functional impairment, and parenting stress and accommodation of symptoms. The investigators also predict that this group will be acceptable and feasible for parents.
The main purpose of the study is to conduct an initial feasibility evaluation of the new Internet-based EAET treatment manual. We will include 50 patients with somatic symptom disorder to take part of the treatment for nine weeks through the Internet. A within-subject design will be used. Self-report measures of symptom level and mechanisms of change will be conducted weekly. Feedback on content, process and potential caveats will be collected using surveys and written evaluations from the participants at post-treatment. Linear mixed models will be used to investigate trajectories of change in symptoms and processes.
Research has shown that patients with functional somatic symptoms continue to worry about having a serious disease despite medical reassurance from their doctors. This study aims to investigate whether cognitive immunization is a mechanism that underlies the sustained concern about having serious disease. To this end, the use of cognitive immunization strategies will be experimentally modulated after receipt of medical test results.
The present study is a randomized clinical trial of an emotional awareness and expression intervention (EAET) and a mindfulness meditation intervention (MMT) for Wayne State University students with anxiety and somatic symptoms. Each of these treatments will be compared to a wait list control condition and to one another to evaluate how well the treatments improve physical and psychological symptoms, stress, and interpersonal functioning of 120 Wayne State University students at 4-week and 8-weeks post-randomization. This research is intended to provide an evidence-based approach to working with emotions to improve both anxiety and somatic symptoms in young adults and will illuminate how EAET compares to the commonly used mindfulness training. It is hypothesized that both active interventions will be superior to no treatment, and differences between the two treatments will be explored.
Background Severe health anxiety is a highly distressing, often debilitating, psychological problem. Since the release of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5) its clinical manifestations are increasingly often referred to as Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) or Illness Anxiety Disorder (IAD). Despite often being overlooked in routine care, several treatments for severe health anxiety have shown great promise, the most well-established being Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Traditionally, CBT - like most other psychotherapies - has typically been delivered face-to-face. That is, the patient physically meeting with the therapist once a week for the whole of the treatment. Internet-delivered CBT does not rest on this requirement, but has nevertheless been shown to be efficacious for severe health anxiety (see for example NCT01673035). Aim of the study The present study aims to compare the effects of Internet-delivered CBT and CBT face-to-face for severe health anxiety in a randomized controlled trial. A non-inferiority criterion is applied to determine if Internet-delivered CBT is at least as efficacious as its well-established predecessor.
Background: The prevalence of severe health anxiety is reported to be 1-2% in Western communities. This functional disorder is difficult for medical doctors to treat, the course of the disorder is often chronic, and that is costly for the social and health care systems as well as for the patients. A Cochrane metaanalysis from 2009 finds evidence for effectiveness of individual cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for patients with hypochondriasis. But no randomised controlled trials (RCT) of the effectiveness of classical CBT delivered only in groups for patients with severe health anxiety (hypochondriasis/illness anxiety disorder) has yet been conducted. Aims: 1) to examine the effectiveness of group-CBT for patients with severe health anxiety compared to a wait-list group receiving usual care, 2) to perform a categorical and dimensional assessment of personality, 3) to examine predictors of outcome especially comorbid personality disorders, 4) to examine the relation between personality, illness perception and treatment outcome, 5) to compare the cost-effectiveness of these two treatments, 6) at a 2 years follow up to examine the course and long-term effectiveness of group-CBT for patients with severe health anxiety and some also followed by psychological treatment for comorbid personality disorders. Main hypothesis: Patients with severe HA who have received group CBT will at 6-month follow-up compared to a wait-list group receiving usual care show a significantly reduction in health anxiety. Methods: 84 patients referred from medical doctors during 2014-15 to the Clinic of Liaison Psychiatry in Koege, Region Zealand, Denmark, will be included and block randomised per 14 patients to either weekly group-CBT with 7 patients and 2 therapists for 3 hours a week in 12 weeks or wait-list with usual care for 9 months. Inclusion: Severe health anxiety (dominant mental disorder), score on WI-7>21,4, age 18-65 years, Danish speaking, informed consent. Exclusion: Another severe treatment demanding mental disorder, risk of suicide or psychosis, a serious somatic disease, pregnancy, dependency of drugs, alcohol or medication. Diagnostic assessment: The patients are included using research criteria for severe health anxiety (for ICD-11) and semi-structured interviews developed for DSM-IV, SCAN (general psychopathology) and SCID-II (personality disorders). Criteria for hypochondriasis from ICD-10 and illness anxiety disorder/somatic symptom disorder from DSM-5 are used for subcategorising. Dimensions and traits of personality are assessed by the questionnaire PID-5 included in DSM-5, section III. Outcome measures: The primary outcome measure is the questionnaire for health anxiety, Whiteley Index 7 (WI-7), with a cut-off for remission on 21,4 or a blinded diagnostic assessment of no severe health anxiety present 6 months after end of treatment. The secondary outcome measures are questionnaires for health anxiety (HAI), general psychopathology (SCL-90-R), level of personality disorders (PID-5), level of functioning (SF-36), quality of life (WHO-5, EQ-5D), Illness perception (IPQ), alcohol consumption (CAGE) and register data for number of sick days and use of social and health care and a blinded global assessment of functioning (F-GAF). Time frame: Data wil be analysed, and results wil be disseminated from 2016.
The purpose of this pilot study is to compare the effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) plus Medical Care As Usual (MCAU) compared to MCAU for Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders (SSRD). Consenting patients presenting to the emergency department with suspected SSRD will be randomly allocated to receive either 8 weekly individual sessions of ISTDP or to an 8-week wait list followed by ISTDP. MCAU including emergency department and/or family doctor consultation is available throughout trial participation. The primary outcome measure is participant self-reported somatic symptoms at week 8.
Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are a common and important problem in primary care. Patients repeatedly presenting MUS to their general practitioner (GP) suffer from their symptoms, are functionally impaired, and are at risk of unnecessary and possibly harmful tests, referrals and treatment. Evidence indicate that specific interventions for patients with MUS, such as reattribution therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy are of limited help. According to experts in this field a multi-component approach is most helpful for these patients. This pilot trial aims to test the systematic identification of eligible patients, to assess the acceptability of the intervention and to estimate potential treatment effects for a larger trial. It's a randomised pilot study consisting of patients with MUS in primary care. Patients will be randomized to intervention (usual care and additional psychosomatic therapy) or control condition (usual care alone). Patients will be followed for one year. Participants are patients consulting their GP more than once with MUS and in which the GP presumes that psychosocial distress is an underlying cause. The intervention is the psychosomatic therapy delivered by a psychosomatic therapist, consists of a combination of information and education, relaxation therapy and mindfulness, cognitive approaches and activating therapy. This multi-component approach is captured into a protocol in which therapists are able to modify the treatment in order to deliver a tailor-made treatment for patients with MUS. Primary outcome measures are: the number of patients identified and recruited, perceived symptom severity, measured on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and patients' self-rated symptoms of distress, depression, anxiety and somatization (4DSQ: The Four Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire). Other primary outcome measures are the time needed to include the eligible patients, the number of withdrawals in the intervention and control group, compliance in the therapy group and the number of patients who complete the questionnaires. Secondary outcome measures are: symptoms of hyperventilation (NHL: Nijmegen Hyperventilation List), physical and mental health status and quality of life (SF-36), and level of functioning (MAF: measure of general functioning). Patient satisfaction with the received therapy is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Medical consumption will be measured by the Cost Diary for medical consumption.