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Singh,
Box 4

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Expert rating of diagnostic usefulness of somatisation symptoms14

Most useful (common; patient insists cause is physical): Back pain, chest pain, muscular pain, dyspepsia, palpitations

Useful (common; patients tend to accept a psychological explanation): Tension headaches, inability to relax, epigastric discomfort, feelings of heaviness or lightness in the head, breathlessness without exertion

Useful (but specific to some cultures): Loss of voice, pain during intercourse, dizzy spells or seizure-like attacks without unconsciousness, burning in the sexual organs or rectum, unpleasant sensations in or around genitals

Not useful (common but not specific): Sleep disturbance, irritability, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, dry mouth

Not useful (rare and not specific): Deafness, complaints of vaginal discharge, urinary retention or difficulty urinating, amnesia, seizure or convulsion

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