Somatic Symptom Disorder

DEFINITION

• A chronic mental disorder with persistent somatic symptom(s) associated with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are disproportionate to the somatic symptoms
• Somatic Symptom Disorder is classified under the Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders section of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5).[1]
• This is a new disorder in DSM-5 that attempts to combine heterogeneous conditions, including the former somatization disorder, hypochondriasis, chronic pain conditions, and undifferentiated somatoform disorder[1].
  • Hypochondriasis: disease preoccupation disproportionate to pathology which endures despite medical reassurance
  • Somatization: experience or complaint of physical symptoms because of some other psychological distress (due to a disease, personality vulnerabilities, a drive, and/or life events)
  • Briquet’s syndrome: life-long multisystem somatic complaints associated with a constellation of vulnerabilities, including temperament, sex, socioeconomic, status and intelligence; it was linked with the now-banned term “hysteria”