Adult Somatic Preoccupation and Its Relationship to Childhood Trauma

Abstract

Somatic preoccupation has been associated with a variety of comorbid psychiatric conditions including childhood trauma, personality disorder, and depression. The current study was undertaken to simultaneously explore the inter-relationship of these psychiatric variables as conceptualized in a path model. Participants (N = 120), both men and women, seen for nonemergent health care in a resident-staffed internal medicine clinic, were given questionnaires exploring the presence of childhood trauma, borderline personality symptomatology, current depression, worry, and somatic preoccupation. With one exception, all simple correlation coefficients among study variables were relatively substantial. By sequencing variables into an a priori model and using a path analytic approach, several indirect and direct relationships among variables were evident. Most important, childhood trauma exhibited a direct effect on somatic preoccupation as well as indirect effects through borderline personality disturbance and current depression. These data suggest that childhood trauma may be a precursor for somatic preoccupation during adulthood.