Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-98).

The purpose of the present study was to compare the factor structure of distress, comprised of depression, anxiety, and somatization, across Turkey and the U.S., and to investigate the metric invariance of the instruments used to measure distress: The Beck Depression Inventory-II, The State Trait Anxiety Inventory Trait subscale, and TheSymptom Check List 90-R Somatization subscale. Data from 778 Turkish and U.S. participants were used for the analyses. It was found that depression, somatization, and anxiety are three distinct but related constructs for both Turkish and U.S. participants. It was also found that BDI-II, STAI-Trait, and SCL-90-R-Somatization do not have metric invariance across the two cultures, and these instruments do not measure the same distress construct across Turkey and U.S. Stated differently, distress as measured by these three instruments has different meanings for Turkish and U.S. participants. According to the results of a freelist analysis, somatic, cognitive, behavioral, and affective reactions to distress were equally salient for Turkish students. In contrast, affective and somatic reactions to distress had more salience for the U.S. participants.Some of the results obtained from the current study contradicted previous findings, while some were consistent. The results were consistent with the way depression, anxiety, and somatization are conceptualized in the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) as separate constructs, but contradicted Krueger et al.'s findings (2003) and Broom's unitary model of personhood (2000, 2003). Results from the freelist analysis contradicted the previous findings indicating that Turkish individuals are more likely to somatize compared to individuals from the U.S. (Gureje et al., 1997). The methodological differences between the current study and the previous studies (Gureje et al., 1997), such as differences in the instrumentation and the educational levels of the participants, may have caused the observed differences in the findings. The results from the current study should be interpreted in light of its limitations, such as use of convenience sampling, instrumentation, and the effect of potential response biases. Future studies are needed to further investigate the cross-cultural metric invariance and item bias of BDI-II, STAI-Trait, and SCL-90-R-Somatization individually. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-103). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-74).

Thesis (M.A.)--George Mason University, 2009. / Vita: p. 60. Thesis director: Koraly Perez-Edgar. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Oct. 12, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-59). Also issued in print.

Bibliography: leaves 233-306. A study of the phenomenon of somatization as it occurs in the primary care setting. The phenomenon was studied in terms of aspects of illness behaviour and risk of psychiatric morbidity. It is suggested that abnormal illness behaviour in the form of somatization may be an important factor in the non-recognition of mild non-psychotic psychiatric illness in the primary care setting. The results of the study indicate that an assessment of the patients' attitudes and beliefs about symptoms, and an exploration of psychosocial issues, may lead to a better understanding of why the patients have sought help, and may lead to early identification and appropriate treatment of somatizing behaviour and the psychiatric morbidity underlying such behaviour.

Bibliography: leaves 233-306. / xvii, 306 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / A study of the phenomenon of somatization as it occurs in the primary care setting. The phenomenon was studied in terms of aspects of illness behaviour and risk of psychiatric morbidity. It is suggested that abnormal illness behaviour in the form of somatization may be an important factor in the non-recognition of mild non-psychotic psychiatric illness in the primary care setting. The results of the study indicate that an assessment of the patients' attitudes and beliefs about symptoms, and an exploration of psychosocial issues, may lead to a better understanding of why the patients have sought help, and may lead to early identification and appropriate treatment of somatizing behaviour and the psychiatric morbidity underlying such behaviour. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Depts. of Psychiatry and General Practice, 2001

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Depts. of Psychiatry and General Practice, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 233-306.

Despite a wealth of literature on the aetiology of somatic distress or somatization, somatic theory has failed to expand beyond a dualistic epistemology of causation. Within the primary health context where medically unexplained symptoms are characteristically articulated as literal, symbolic gestures of internal psychological processes, individuals' subjective accounts of somatic distress are reduced to objective phenomena and thus articulated on the grounds of absence. Within this context, the body as a lived, meaningful, perceiving subjectivity is silenced in favour of the corpse, thus rendering the somatizing individual's lived and subjective experience, expression and knowledge of somatic distress inaccessible. Instead, the somatizing individual is positioned within a domain of perturbed silence - a domain in which the professional's turning away or retreat from engaging somatization on the grounds of unique, subjective and corporeal experience, positions the patient/client as a passive, silent recipient whose somatic expressions as lived are overlooked. This study attempts to initiate a theoretical focus of departure from existing articulations of somatic distress through the development of a theoretical and epistemological framework that addresses some of the tensions inherent to contemporary somatic theory. In so doing, it employs embodiment philosophy and narrative methodology as a basis for a preliminary and critical investigation into a relatively neglected area of somatization research. / KMBT_363 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in