Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:873-878
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
A prospective follow-up and family study of somatization in men and women
CR Cloninger, RL Martin, SB Guze and PJ Clayton
The authors evaluated alternative criteria for somatization disorder in 277
female and 129 male psychiatric outpatients. In women, the diagnosis of
somatization disorder based on DSM-III criteria was highly concordant with
the diagnosis of Briquet's syndrome based on Guze's original criteria.
There was familial aggregation for Briquet's syndrome in women but none
among individuals of either sex who had somatization disorder without the
full Briquet's syndrome. In men, the diagnosis of somatization disorder was
rarer and less stable than in women. The findings show that somatization
usually has a different clinical picture and different familial antecedents
in men than in women.
