What is bds syndrome?
Individuals with bodily distress syndrome (hereafter BDS) experience daily bothersome physical symptoms. Typical symptoms are headache, pains in the back, muscles or joints, stomach trouble, breathlessness, excessive fatigue and many more.
1. The presence of bodily symptoms that are distressing to the individual. Typically, this involves multiple bodily symptoms that may vary over time. Occasionally the focus is limited to a single symptom, usually pain or fatigue.
2. Excessive attention is directed toward the symptoms, which may manifest in:
o Persistent preoccupation with the severity of the symptoms or their negative consequences. In individuals who have an established medical condition that may be causing or contributing to the symptoms, the degree of attention related to the symptoms is clearly excessive in relation to the nature and severity of the medical condition.
o Repeated contacts with health care providers related to the bodily symptoms that are substantially in excess of what would be considered medically necessary.
3. Excessive attention to the bodily symptoms persists despite appropriate clinical examination and investigations or appropriate reassurance by health care providers.
4. Bodily symptoms are persistent; that is, some symptoms are present (though not necessarily the same symptoms) on most days during a period of at least several months (e.g., 3 months or more).
5. The bodily symptoms and related distress and preoccupation result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.
6. The symptoms or the associated distress and preoccupation are not better accounted for by another mental disorder (e.g., Schizophrenia or Other Primary Psychotic Disorder, a Mood Disorder, or an Anxiety or Fear-Related Disorder).
Data on BDS status were obtained from patient questionnaires, that is, the BDS checklist (Appendix 1). A previous validation of the BDS checklist showed that four symptoms from one or more of the BDS symptom groups indicated probable BDS.5 The diagnostic criteria for BDS used in this study are shown in Box 1. Information on self-perceived health was obtained from the mental component summary (MCS) score and the physical component summary (PCS) score of the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey, Version 1 (SF-12).11 Scores for anxiety and depression were obtained from the Symptom Checklist (SCL).12 On the SCL, anxiety and depression subscales with sum scores of ≥5 indicated probable anxiety or depression.12,13 A question was included that addressed patient-perceived long-term physical illness (>3 months within the last 12 months). The questionnaires were processed using TeleForm (version 8.0).
