Abstract

Somatization, childhood trauma and abuse are common, and exert great pressure on health services. This article studies the correlation between backgrounds of psychological childhood trauma, somatization, and borderline personality disorders among female inpatients in two facilities in Santiago, Chile. A trauma scale was used to screen 159 treated women (60 from San Bernardo Hospital and 99 from El Salvador Hospital) in different clinical units. The two quintiles with the highest scores were administered the CIDI 2.1 somatization scale and the SCID II borderline scale. Among the 159 cases, 34% reported no childhood traumatic experiences, 63.1% reported at least one event, 40.1% at least two events, and 22.9% recalled three or more traumatic experiences. The most frequently recalled event was traumatic separation from a parent (34%), followed by physical punishment (27%). Physical injuries were sustained in 8.8% of the cases as a result of the event. Seven percent of the cases met DSM-IV criteria for borderline personality disorder, and 66% for somatization disorder. Headache was the most commonly symptom. We found a significant correlation between the frequency of trauma and somatization disorder.