Attribution in somatizers: stability and relationship to outcome at 1-year follow-up

• Published in: Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica Vol. 95; no. 5; pp. 433 - 438
• Main Authors: García-Campayo, J., Larrubia, J., Lobo, A., Pérez-Echeverría, M. J., Campos, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.1997; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; follow-up; Medical sciences; primary care; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; somatization; Somatoform disorders. Psychosomatics; Human; Symptomatology; Follow up study; Somatoform disorder; Somatization; Evolution; Attribution
• ISSN: 0001-690X; 1600-0447
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1997.tb09658.x

The aim of this study was to determine whether attributional style is a stable pattern in somatizers, to analyse the sociodemographic and psychopathological characteristics that can modify it, and to study the relationship between attributional pattern and outcome. A total of 147 somatizers and 46 psychologizers from a representative sample (n=1559) of primary care patients in Zaragoza, Spain were followed up for 1 year. Attribution of somatic symptoms was a stable construct in somatizers. Patients who modified attribution were younger (by 15 years on average), tended to be without a partner, and had a shorter illness duration (by 20 months on average) than those who maintained it. Attribution showed no correlation with outcome at the 1‐year follow‐up.