ABSTRACT
Aim: This study aimed to find out the relationship between the clinical manifestations of patients with psychosomatic morbidity (PSM) and their family developmental stages. Study Design: A cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study period span between February 1st and April 30th 2013, during which patients who presented at the General Outpatient (GOP) clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan for various complaints were encountered. Methods: A sample of 360 patients with varying forms of PSM identified by five or more from the symptoms in the primary evaluation of mental disorder- patient health questionnaire somatoform, anxiety and depression modules (PRIME-MD PHQ SADs) was recruited consecutively. The international classification for primary care second electronic version (ICPC-2E) was used to categorize the clinical manifestations of respondents while Stevenson’s family developmental model classified the family developmental stages into emerging, crystallizing, interacting and actualizing family. Data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences soft ware version 17. Statistical significance level was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: Among the 360 respondents studied, 275 were married with age range between 19 and 80 years, 62.5% lived with their spouses, 3.1% divorced∕ separated and 10.8% were widowed. Majority was females (74.9%) and the predominant family developmental stage was the crystallizing family (30.2%). General and unspecified physical (GUP) complaints were the commonest clinical manifestation seen in all the stages except the emerging family which has gynaecological complaints. Comparing the mean scores of married respondents with moderate-severe PSM and family stages shows that being married and living with spouses may be protective against severe forms of PSM (P = .04). On the other hand, comparing the mean scores of single and married respondents with moderate-severe PSM shows that respondents who are single may come with severe forms of somatoform disorder when compared with other single respondents with anxiety or depressive disorder (P < .05). There is however no relationship between the family developmental stage and severity of PSM. Conclusion: There was interplay between medically unexplained physical complaints and patient’s family characteristics. Being married and living with spouses may be protective against severe forms of PSM.