Somatic symptom disorder

[Julian]

Somatic symptom disorder is characterized by one or more chronic physical symptoms accompanied by significant and out-of-proportion levels of distress, worries, and difficulty in daily functioning related to those symptoms.

People with somatic symptom disorder are preoccupied with their symptoms and spend excessive amounts of time and energy on these symptoms and health concerns.
Doctors diagnose the disorder when people continue to be preoccupied and concerned with their symptoms after physical disorders have been ruled out or when their response to their physical disorder is unusually intense.
Psychotherapy, particularly cognitive-behavioral therapy, can help, as can having a supportive, trustful relationship with a doctor.

Somatic symptom disorder replaces several previously used diagnoses, such as somatization disorder, hypochondriasis, pain disorder, undifferentiated somatoform disorder, and some other related disorders. All of these disorders involve somatization—the expression of mental factors as physical (somatic—from soma, the Greek word for body) symptoms. In this disorder, the person