What is Somatic Symptom Disorder?
Individuals suffering with somatic symptom disorder are preoccupied with bodily sensations and symptoms such as pain, breathlessness, or lethargy. Previously, this ailment was known as somatoform disorder or somatization disorder. It is distinguished by the conviction that you have a medical ailment despite the fact that you have not been diagnosed with anything and regardless of your doctor’s claims that you have no medical problem causing your symptoms.
When your doctor and people around you don’t think your symptoms are real, it can cause a lot of emotional stress.
Types of Somatic Symptom Disorder
Thoughts, emotions, and actions associated to somatic symptoms define different somatic symptom disorders. There are seven categories of somatic symptom disorders in which people exhibit a wide range of clinically important symptoms that are difficult to describe. These categories are:
- Disorder of somatization
- Conversion syndrome
- Pain syndrome
- Hypochondriasis
- Other specific somatic symptoms and disorders
- Unspecified physical symptom and condition
Signs and symptoms of Somatic Symptom Disorder
The primary symptom of somatic symptom disorder is the assumption that you have a medical illness that you do not. These disorders range from moderate to severe, and from broad to narrow.
Because people suffering from somatic symptom disorder legitimately feel they have a medical disease, it can be difficult to separate somatic symptom disorder from a true medical problem that requires treatment. However, somatic symptom disorder causes an obsessive preoccupation with symptoms that frequently interfere with everyday living.
Other traits include:
- symptoms not associated with any recognised medical condition
- Symptoms of a recognised medical condition that are far more severe than they should be, such as continual or strong fear over a probable disease
- believing that normal bodily experiences are symptoms of sickness
- Concerning the seriousness of minor symptoms such as a runny nose
- Believing that your doctor has not given you a thorough evaluation or treatment, being concerned that physical activity would hurt your body, continuously inspecting your body for physical symptoms of sickness, not responding to medical therapy, or being extremely sensitive to pharmaceutical adverse effects
- having an impairment that is more severe than what is typically associated with a disease
Causes of Somatic Symptom Disorder
The specific origin of somatic symptom disorder is unknown to researchers. However, it appears to be linked to:
- Pain sensitivity
- having negative affectivity
- a personality feature that involves bad feelings and poor self-image difficulties
- dealing with stress lower emotional awareness, which can cause you to focus more on physical concerns than emotional ones
- learnt behaviours, such as obtaining attention from having an illness or growing immobility from pain behaviours
Somatic symptom disorder can be caused by any of these characteristics, or by a combination of them.
Treatment of Somatic Symptom Disorder?
To enhance your quality of life and decrease concern about your physical health, somatic symptom disorder is generally treated with therapy, medication, or a combination of the two.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy, often known as talk therapy, is an effective initial step in the treatment of somatic symptom disorder. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that is especially effective for somatic symptom disorder. Working with a therapist to uncover negative or unreasonable ideas and habits is required.
Once you’ve recognized these ideas, your therapist will work with you to develop strategies for dealing with them and responding more effectively to stressful circumstances. You’ll also learn how to manage your health anxiety and any other mental health disorders, such as depression.
