Question: Working With and Advocating for Clients With Somatic Symptom Disorders

Clients who exhibit somatic symptom disorders are often disregarded and not taken seriously because the physical symptoms are difficult to measure. However, these clients are in distress and they need mental health attention along with medical care. Working with clients with any of the somatic symptom disorders highlights the need for a biopsychosocial approach to social work.

For this Assignment, read the Somatic Symptom Disorders criteria in the DSM-5. Then read the articles by Dimsdale, Patel, Xin, and Kleinman, and by Kirmayer and Sartorius.

Post and Select one of the three major Somatic Symptom Disorders (F45.1 Somatic symptom disorder, F45.21 Illness Anxiety Disorder, or F44.x Conversion Disorder [replace the x with the code that correlates with the symptom type]), and provide an explanation for why you as a social worker might need to take a biopsychosocial approach to social work when working with clients who have the chosen somatic symptom disorder. Then explain why a multidisciplinary approach is necessary when working with clients who have this somatic symptom disorder. Finally, explain why advocacy would be an integral part of working with these clients.