Organic or psychosomatic? A cross-sectional study Organic or psychosomatic?

Abstract

Aim: Symptomatic treatments of psychosomatic symptoms are not successful because they cannot solve true etiological causes. To resolve the disorder, it is first necessary to investigate and diagnose the underlying cause and persuade the patient to use the appropriate drugs. In this study, it was aimed to make suggestions in order to identify patients who may have psychiatric symptoms and to prevent unnecessary invasive procedures by scanning psychosomatic symptoms prior to endoscopy indication. Material and Methods: The Cornell index, Beck depression and Anxiety scales, and the Somatization scale were applied to 140 patients whose EGD procedure was planned. The patients were divided into three groups as normal endoscopic examination, antral gastritis, and other disease diagnoses (erosive gastritis, gastric ulcer, etc.). Beck Depression and Beck Anxiety Inventory scores were statistically lower in other diagnostic groups than in normal endoscopic findings and antral gastritis groups. Also, scores on the somatization scale were significantly higher in normal endoscopic findings and antral gastritis groups compared to other diagnostic groups. Results: In patients who underwent EGD, the process was found to be more likely to cause normal endoscopic examination as the age decreased. In addition, somatization, Cornell index, anxiety and depression scores were higher at a young age. The Cornell Medical Index showed a significantly higher sub-score of the strong neurotic structure in the antral gastritis group compared to the other groups. Similarly, there were significantly higher scores for the subscales of depression, irritability-anxiety, fear-startle, psychosomatic symptoms, hypochondriasis, and gastrointestinal disorders in the antral gastritis group compared to other diagnostic groups Discussion: Our results show that applying the somatization scale or an equivalent screening scale to screen psychiatric symptoms before seeking endoscopic examination, especially in the young population, can provide early treatment and prevent increased treatment costs.