Somatization disorder
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Somatization disorder (also Briquet's disorder or, in antiquity, hysteria) is a psychiatric diagnosis applied to patients who chronically and persistently complain of varied physical symptoms that have no identifiable physical origin. One common general etiological explanation is that internal psychological conflicts are unconsciously expressed as physical signs. Patients with Somatization Disorder will typically visit many doctors trying to get the treatment they think they need. However, it must be remembered that this behavior would also occur if the patient had a genuine physical condition that previous physicians had failed to diagnose. The first step for a physician must be to take the patient's claims seriously and consider if their symptoms match any other known condition.
See also
- Culture-bound syndrome
- Psychosomatic illness
- Hypochondriasis
- Body-centred countertransference
- Medically unexplained symptoms