Is "somatisation" a defense against the acknowledgment of psychiatric disorder?

Objective: To determine whether experiencing physical symptoms is associate d with a denial of psychological distress in individuals with probable psyc hiatric disorder. Methods: A nested case-control study was performed using data from a national birth cohort study. All subjects who scored above thre shold on a case-finding questionnaire of psychiatric disorder were identifi ed. Those who in a separate question endorsed the presence of psychiatric d isorder ("acknowledgers") were compared with those who did not. Results: Ac knowledgers were more likely to be female, better educated and have more se vere current and past psychiatric disorder. They were also more likely to r eport multiple physical symptoms, even when potential confounders and sever ity of psychiatric disorder were controlled. Conclusion: There: is no evide nce that experiencing multiple physical symptoms helps the individual deny the presence of psychiatric disorder. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All ri ghts reserved.