Somatization disorder is a mental illness where patients report physical symptoms without a medical cause. It is a type of somatoform disorder, and symptoms include pain, gastrointestinal issues, and menstrual complications. It is more common in women and can involve erratic behavior. Treatment involves therapy and medication.
Somatization disorder is a psychiatric condition of patients who report symptoms for which a physical or organic cause cannot be identified. Their complaints often concern neurological, digestive and pain problems experienced consistently for years. These symptoms are not imaginary, just mentally caused. Also called Briquet syndrome after a 19th-century physician who described it, somatization disorder is fairly rare in the general population and hasn’t been taken seriously for a long time. Although it is a mental illness, the health problems that patients experience can seriously disrupt their lives.
Somatization disorder is one of the somatoform disorders, psychosomatic illnesses in which patients experience symptoms of pain and illness that cannot be traced to a medical condition. Commonly, a patient will complain of the same set of symptoms over a long period of time. After an extensive physical examination and laboratory tests, doctors conclude that the disease and lesion are either absent or insufficient to account for the patient’s symptoms. There are several scientific hypotheses proposing explanations for the underlying causes of somatization disorder, some of which link it to difficulty coping with stress.
According to criteria used by mental health professionals and established in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), somatization disorder may involve a combination of gastrointestinal, pseudoneurological, and sexual symptoms with no physical cause. It is a mood disorder that meets the DSM-IV criteria. The diversity of reported disorders differentiates somatization disorder from other somatoform disorders. Typically, the disorder is rare and much more common in women than in men. As is the case with many mental illnesses, the onset of the disorder is often before the age of 30.
While there is a wide range of symptoms reported by those with somatization disorder, some recurring problems dominate, including pain in limbs, irritable bowel syndrome, and menstrual complications. Historically, the health problems of patients with the disorder were not taken seriously because they were seen as purely mental and therefore imaginary. In the 19th century, these ailments fell into a general category of mental and physical health problems called “hysteria.” Since then, research in neuroimmunology and neurological control of gastrointestinal function offers evidence that psychological distress can cause significant physiological changes.
Like other mood disorders, somatization disorder can involve erratic behavior. Attention-seeking, colorful, clinically detailed descriptions of symptoms by patients are common. Psychiatric treatment sometimes involves antidepressants and symptom management. It is important to note that unlike malingering, in which individuals fake symptoms for financial or social gain, somatization disorders involve real health problems. Therapy and consistent medical support are important, as patients may feel alienated, worrying that their complaints will be ignored by their healthcare providers.
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