Somatoform symptoms, anxiety, and depression in the context of traumatic life experiences by comparing participants with and without psychiatric diagnoses.

The present study examines somatoform symptoms, anxiety and depression in connection with traumatic life experiences by comparing participants with and without psychiatric diagnoses. Significant group differences in the quantity of somatoform symptoms and the degrees of anxiety and depression could be found between participants with and without psychiatric diagnoses. Experience of sexual abuse leads to significantly more somatoform symptoms. Experience of repeated physical abuse as an additional factor significantly increased the depression score in all groups. This study reveals that the type of somatic complaint allows a prediction of the kind of traumatic life experience suffered. Physical abuse may be predicted by discomfort in and around the precodium, loss of appetite and stomach discomfort or a churning feeling in the stomach. Sexually abused participants reported significantly more anal pain, bad taste in the mouth or an excessively coated tongue, sexual indifference, and urinary retention. The findings of this study also revealed an association between depression, anxiety and somatoform symptoms and the type of traumatic life experience. The experience of physical and sexual abuse was found to be the most highly discriminative function.