Unexplained physical symptoms need mind
Many of you may have more than one experience of clear physical pain such as headache or nausea without any medical reason at one point in your life, especially when you were stressed out, In most cases, such sparse experiences do not imply a disorder, but in some cases, they do. In this article, I would like to introduce a mental disorder that is called the somatoform disorder.
Somatoform disorder is caused by cognitive, social and behavioral factors, and is characterized by various physical discomforts and pain without an adequate physical reason and it is distinguished from malingering. Although only about 0.1 to 0.3% of population is diagnosed with somatoform disorders, those who suffer from somatoform symptoms are way more common in general population. The onset of somatoform disorder often takes place around the age of 30 or younger, and it is significantly more common in women than in men.
Somatoform disorders include somatization disorder, conversion disorder, and pain disorder. Also, there are two categories in somatoform disorders: monosymptomatic and polysymptomatic. Monosymptomatic somatoform disorder usually accompanies only one type of symptom, and pain disorder and conversion disorder fall into this category. Polysymptomatic somatoform disorder comes with several different forms of symptoms in different body parts or organ systems, and somatization disorder belongs to this category.
There are several ways to treat somatoform disorders. Since somatoform disorder is a mental disorder, psychiatric approach is necessary to treat the disorder properly. If the symptoms are severe enough to interfere your social life, it is required to meet a psychiatrist and psychotherapeutic approach with or without medication would be used. Cognitive therapy and behavioral stress management, and behavior therapy also help alleviating the symptoms and discomforts. A number of empirical evidences have show antidepressants like SSRIs and Tricyclic antidepressants, are very effective in controlling the symptoms.
Chronic physical symptoms should be always considered in perspective of mind-body interaction. Also, in order to alleviate these symptoms, the effort to keep the health of mind and body is necessary. That could be the reason why meditation and yoga are in the spotlight for the balanced health of mind and body on these days.
Dr. Kang Do-hyung is a professor of Department of Neuropsychiatry at Seoul National University Hospital