ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the attributional styles of patients with functional syndromes and their association with psychiatric morbidity and severity of illness. Patients’ interpretation of medically unexplained symptoms influences the illness presentation and the recognition of psychiatric morbidity in primary care. The influence of a somatic attributional bias on the symptoms and clinical outcome of chronic fatigue patients was studied in primary care settings by investigators from the Hospital Nord, Saint-Etienne, France. Chronic fatigue patients who attributed the condition to a somatic illness reported higher severity levels for their fatigue than the control groups. Fibromyalgia patients and healthy control subjects were similar with regard to somatic and psychological attributions for past physical symptoms. Researchers from the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, England, have evaluated the relationship between attributional patterns, moods, and menstrual cycle in a sample of 60 women obtaining care from a family planning clinic.
