Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39776879›Full record

ArticleJournal of general and family medicine2025

Characteristics of patients with somatoform pain disorder.

Lena Barth, Linda Baumbach, André Hajek, Lutz Götzmann, Katrin Feiks, Michael Rufer, Kyrill Schwegler, Bianca Schwennen, Kirstin Bernhardt, Uwe Wutzler and 3 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general and family medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Characteristics of patients with somatoform pain disorder.Journal of general and family medicine · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Lena BarthDepartment of Psychology, MSH Medical School Hamburg Hamburg Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9347-2792
Linda BaumbachDepartment of Health Economics and Health Services Research University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Hamburg Germany.
André HajekDepartment of Health Economics and Health Services Research University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Hamburg Germany.
Lutz GötzmannInstitute of Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies (IPPK) Berlin Germany.
Katrin FeiksDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Segeberger Kliniken Bad Segeberg Germany.
Michael RuferDepartment of Psychiatry University Hospital of Zuerich Zürich Switzerland.
Kyrill SchweglerDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine Inselspital Bern Switzerland.
Bianca SchwennenKlinik für Psychosomatische Medizin Und Psychotherapie MediClin Seepark Klinik Bad Bodenteich Germany.
Kirstin BernhardtBlomenburg Privatklinik Selent Germany.
Uwe WutzlerAsklepios Fachklinikum Stadtroda, Psychotherapie Und Psychosomatik Stadtroda Germany.
Paul KaiserDepartment of Psychology, MSH Medical School Hamburg Hamburg Germany.
Lutz WittmannInternational Psychoanalytic University Berlin Germany.
Adrian SiegelNeurozentrum Thalwil Zürich Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Patients with somatoform pain experience physical pain that cannot be attributed to any underlying medical or physiological cause, and it is often thought to be related to psychological factors. Health professionals encounter difficulties identifying this specific type of chronic pain, leading to suboptimal treatment strategies. Therefore, we aimed to describe the characteristics of patients with somatoform pain, to support the identification of affected patients. Methods: We collected and analyzed a cross-sectional survey data from 200 patients with somatoform pain admitted to one of three psychosomatic centers in Germany between August 2013 and July 2014. The survey contains 10 different categories, all of them referring to pain-related topics. Within the survey, we analyzed validated as well as non-validated questionnaires. Here, we present the following five: Personal data, Body: Pain perception, Cognition: Pain processing, Pain behavior, and Physical complaints. Results: Our results highlight that most patients with somatoform pain experience it in several body parts and as persisting, lasting >12 h/day (50%), and constantly changing (71%). Furthermore, patients indicate feelings of helplessness, by agreeing to the expressions the pain controls me (70%). Finally, we found that pain is predominantly seen as suffering, failing to convey emotional pain, despite cognitively acknowledging the dependency of emotional and physical pain. Conclusion: The study identified specific and distinctive characteristics in the emotional and behavioral responses of patients with somatoform pain, potentially distinguishing them from other patients with chronic pain.

Indexed as

chronic painfunctional somatic symptomspsychotherapyquality of lifesomatoform pain

Identifiers

PMID39776879
PMCPMC11702402

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.