Volume 16, Issue 3
SOMATIZATION DISORDER AND COGNITIVE CONFLICTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY WITH A CLINICAL SAMPLE
Abstract
Somatization problems generate high healthcare costs, and some of its usual treatments prove ineffective and even counterproductive. An interdisciplinary treatment approach seems necessary in order to provide an integrated treatment for these patients. From this perspective, hardly-studied cognitive processes such as the subjective construction of self, symptoms, and other people should be taken into account. That is why it may be important to study cognitive conflicts, which could stand as subjective barriers for healing. The goal of the study is to investigate the relationships between implicative dilemmas, a kind of cognitive conflict that can be detected using the Repertory Grid, and a somatization scale. Results suggest that somatization scores are higher for individuals with implicative dilemmas, and that the presence of such conflicts predicts somatization better than gender, age, self-esteem, or cognitive differentiation.
Keywords
Somatization, cognitive conflicts, implicative dilemma, repertory grid