ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate relationships between social support and dysfunctional cognition, personality disorder in patients with somatoform disorder.Methods:One hundred and four patients with somatoform disorders and 97 healthy subjects were evaluated with the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS) and Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire (PDQ-4). Social support ratings were compared between patients and healthy controls.The relationship between social support and dysfunctional cognition, personality disorder were analyzed.Results:The scores of social support in all dimensions of patients with somatoform disorder(total score of social support(37.18±8.12), objective social support(8.49±2.83), subjective social support(21.90±5.44), social support utilization(6.79±1.85)) were significantly lower than those in the healthy control group(total score of social support(41.82±6.87), objective social support(9.92±3.38), subjective social support(24.32±4.25), social support utilization(7.59±1.31))( P<0.05). In patients with somatoform disorder, there was a significant negative correlation between the total score of SSRS and the scores of DAS ( r=-0.245, P<0.05) and personality disorder tendency ( r=-0.292, P<0.01). Social support utilization had a significant predictive effect on dysfunctional cognition ( B=-5.384, P=0.007). Conclusion:Social support of patients with somatoform disorder is correlated with dysfunctional cognition and personality disorder tendency, which provides the basis for psychological intervention such as group and family psychotherapy.