Somatoforme Störungen im Kindes- und Jugendalter: Analyse einer umstrittenen Störungskategorie aus entwicklungspsychopathologischer Sicht.

The aim of this dissertation was to analyze the phenomena of somatoform symptoms and somatoform disorders in children and adolescence from a developmental psychopathological point of view. The suitability of the diagnostic criteria of different somatoform disorders according to DSM-IV-TR in classifying children and adolescents who suffer severely from medically unexplained symptoms was analyzed. The suitability of the DSM-IV-TR criteria of somatoform disorders and that of the criteria of the complex somatic symptom disorder, a new diagnostic category proposed by the DSM-V Somatic Symptom Disorders Workgroup to replace some of the somatoform disorders in the DSM-V, were compared. Furthermore, the clinical utility of an alternative diagnostic category, the somatoform adjustment disorder, was evaluated.