Somatic Symptom Disorders
Somatic (meaning “of the body”) symptoms are those that exclusively involve the body and related sensations, such as headaches, stomach pain, tingling, tension, etc. These experiences cause significant and extreme distress for some people, resulting in a great deal of time, energy, and resources being devoted to the symptoms and health concerns. Somatic symptom disorders do not mean that the person is “making it up,” or that the symptoms are “all in your head.”
Everyone experiences physical sensations differently, and people with somatic symptom disorders feel persistently high or intolerable levels of worry about their physical sensations. These symptoms may predominantly involve pain, but can also include any somatic symptom worries. Treatment for these concerns often involves learning new ways of relating to the thoughts and physical sensations (such as through CBT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), medication, or a combination