Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) Practice Test

Clients with somatoform disorder may be symptomatic due to what underlying factor?

1. Familial influence.

2. Work-related stress.

3. Chronic medical conditions.

4. Personality traits.

The correct answer is: Personality traits.

Clients with somatoform disorder often present physical symptoms that cannot be fully explained by a medical condition. These symptoms can arise from psychological factors, including personality traits. Specifically, individuals with certain personality traits may exhibit heightened sensitivity to bodily sensations and a tendency to interpret these sensations as signs of serious illness. For example, traits such as anxiety, neuroticism, or a preoccupation with health can lead to excessive worry about physical health, resulting in the manifestation of physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. This connection between personality traits and the expression of somatic symptoms underscores the importance of psychological influences in somatoform disorder, making it a key underlying factor in understanding the disorder. The other choices, while potentially relevant to other conditions, do not specifically capture the predominant psychological basis of somatoform disorder in the same way as personality traits do.