What is a somatic symptom disorder?
Somatic symptom disorder is characterized by an extreme focus on physical symptoms — such as pain or fatigue — that causes major emotional distress and problems functioning.
You may or may not have another diagnosed medical condition associated with these symptoms, but your reaction to the symptoms is not normal.
You often think the worst about your symptoms and frequently seek medical care, continuing to search for an explanation even when other serious conditions have been excluded.
If you have somatic symptom disorder, you may experience significant emotional and physical distress. Treatment can help ease symptoms, help you cope and improve your quality of life.
Symptoms of somatic symptom disorder may be:
- Specific sensations, such as pain or shortness of breath, or more general symptoms, such as fatigue or weakness
- Unrelated to any medical cause that can be identified, or related to a medical condition
- A single symptom, multiple symptoms or varying symptoms
- Pain is the most common symptom
These thoughts, feelings and behaviors can include:
- Constant worry about potential illness
- Viewing normal physical sensations as a sign of severe physical illness
- Fearing that symptoms are serious, even when there is no evidence
- Thinking that physical sensations are threatening or harmful
- Repeatedly checking your body for abnormalities
- Frequent health care visits that don't relieve your concerns or that make them worse
- Being unresponsive to medical treatment or unusually sensitive to medication side effects
- Having a more severe impairment than is usually expected from a medical condition
Causes
The exact cause of somatic symptom disorder isn't clear, but any of these factors may play a role:
- Genetic and biological factors, such as an increased sensitivity to pain
- Personality trait of negativity, which can impact how you identify and perceive illness and bodily symptoms
- Decreased awareness of or problems processing emotions, causing physical symptoms to become the focus rather than the emotional issues
Risk factors
- Having anxiety or depression
- Having a medical condition or recovering from one
- Being at risk of developing a medical condition, such as having a strong family history of a disease
- Experiencing stressful life events, trauma or violence
- Having experienced past trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse
Source:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/somatic-symptom-
disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20377776
