Somatic symptom disorder - causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, pathology

Somatic symptom disorder, which used to be called somatization or somatoform disorder, involves having physical symptoms that aren't explained by any known physical or mental disorder.

In other words, symptoms that can't be explained. That said, individuals aren't faking the symptoms.

These symptoms are real and often made worse by the fact that they can't be scientifically proven.

And this is pretty different from situations where an individual with a factitious disorder might fake an illness or injury in order to get attention.

The diagnosis requires that individuals experience some set of unexplained physical or somatic symptoms for at least six months.

The symptoms experienced by individuals with this disorder, though, can be incredibly varied, everything from pain to gastrointestinal problems to sexual symptoms.

And although the somatic symptoms are chronic, the exact location, kind, and severity of the symptoms typically changes over time.

The one symptom that does often persist over time is pain, and because it's persistent and has no clear underlying cause, it can be particularly hard to treat.

Somatic symptom disorder often causes cognitive symptoms as well.

And these include persistent thoughts and feelings about their symptoms, usually a lot of worry and anxiety.

And sometimes even catastrophic thoughts about death.

More often than not, it's these cognitive symptoms in response to the physical symptoms, more than the physical symptoms themselves.

That become a basis for this diagnosis.

In fact, clinicians rate the severity of somatic symptom disorder based on patient experience with these cognitive symptoms, not the physical ones.

The condition's considered mild if there's only one cognitive symptom, like ruminating a lot on the symptoms.

It'd be considered moderate if there are two or more cognitive symptoms, like rumination as well as anxiety.

And it'd be considered severe if there are two or more cognitive symptoms, as well as multiple physical symptoms or one severe symptom, like severe pain.

These cognitive and physical symptoms often disrupt an individual's daily life, as well as their relationships.

Unfortunately, the diagnosis can be tricky and confusing, given that the symptoms shift over time and there's no clear underlying scientific explanation.

Historically, it was thought that somatic symptom disorder was the result of a person having too much psychological stress.

And that excess stress bubbled over and led to bodily symptoms.

A current theory, though, is that individuals with this disorder are extremely sensitive to changes in their bodies.

And that common experiences like indigestion might be amplified in these individuals.

One everyday example of this would be how different individuals might perceive the same amount of spiciness very differently.

For some people, it's tasty.

And for other people, the exact same amount of spice is perceived as pain.

Now, treatment of somatic symptom disorders is aimed at reducing the cognitive symptoms.

And this is often done through cognitive behavioral therapy.

The goal here is to encourage individuals to engage in behaviors they think are limited because of their physical symptoms.

In order to show them what they're able to do.

All right, as a quick recap.

Somatic symptom disorder involves physical symptoms that can't be scientifically explained by any known physical or mental disorder.

And the most common one is pain.

And these physical symptoms often lead to cognitive symptoms, like rumination and anxiety.

What's up, guys, I just wanted to give a big special thanks and shout out to Nurse Nicole for collaborating on this video with us.

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