Association of nonsexual and sexual traumatizations with body image and psychosomatic symptoms in psychosomatic outpatients

Abstract 

Objective

A coherent body image is constituted in an interpersonal process during early development. Violations of body self-boundaries (e.g., sexual traumatizations during childhood) could alter the development of a coherent body image and promote symptoms of dissociation and somatization.

Method

A total of 240 psychosomatic outpatients underwent a clinical diagnostic interview and a psychometric evaluation including the Posttraumatic Stress Scale (PDS), the Body Image Questionnaire (FKB-20), an inventory of somatoform symptoms (SOMS-7), the Brief Symptom Questionnaire (BSI) and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Subjects were assigned to one of the following subgroups according to their self-reported trauma status: “nontraumatized,” “nonsexually traumatized” and “sexually traumatized”.

Results

Nonsexual traumatizations were more often reported by men (53.4% vs. 35.9%), whereas women more often reported sexual traumatization (9.6% vs. 33.5%). Women reporting sexual traumatizations showed a significantly higher negative validation of their own body and significantly more psychological symptoms (BSI-GSI), whereas both men and women with sexual traumatizations reported significantly more somatoform complaints and more dissociative symptoms when compared with nonsexual or nontraumatized patients.

Conclusion

Victims of sexual trauma suffer from a more complex symptom pattern including a more negative perception of their own body compared with patients with nonsexual trauma or no trauma.

Keywords: Childhood sexual trauma, Personal identity, Body image, Somatization disorder