How to stop somatizing

We all know or have experienced in our own flesh that moment when your head starts to hurt for no apparent reason, or you start to have discomfort. So, you go to the doctor, but they don't find anything clear for you either, you start to feel worse and you feel weak. When you stop to think, it turns out that you have been under a lot of stress and that has caused you anxiety.

What relationship do your discomforts have with anxiety? Why do they occur and how to calm them down? We are talking about a phenomenon called somatization, which affects more women than men in our society and which, if If not properly treated, it can lead to a psychological disorder: somatization or symptom disorder. somatic. In this Psychology-Online article you will see how to stop somatizing. Find out what this condition is and how to cure it, as well as what its most frequent symptoms and causes are.

Index

1. What is somatization in psychology
2. symptoms of somatization
3. Causes of somatization
4. Types of somatization disorders
5. How is somatization cured?

The term somatization was introduced by Stekel (1943) as a hypothetical process by which a deeply rooted neurosis could cause bodily disorder. Subsequently, opposing positions emerged, such as that of Lipowski, who conceived somatization as a tendency to experience psychological discomfortin the form of somatic symptoms that the subject misinterprets as a sign of some severe physical illness.

Currently, somatization can be defined as multiple physical discomforts whose origin is psychological. According to the DSM-V^[1], somatizations can lead to a somatization disorder, classified within somatoform disorders, which we currently know as somatic symptom disorder.

Characteristics of somatization disorder

Somatic symptom disorder is defined as the presence of multiple and recurrent somatic symptoms over a long period of time. The main characteristics are to suffer pain, shortness of breath, physical weakness, tiredness and they can vary in intensity and manifestation. Pain is normally the most frequent symptom and this can be associated with thoughts and behaviors such as the following:

• excessive worry about the possibility of suffering from one or more diseases.
• Associate physical symptoms with signs of serious illness.
• Difficulty in obtaining a clear medical diagnosis due to lack of tests and evidence.
• Constant review of the body looking for anomalies.
• Perception of more intense symptoms than even suffering from a medical illness.

The fact that these somatic symptoms do not normally have an organic origin causes patients to frequent different health care services in order to find a diagnosis and treatment definitive. As a consequence, by somatizing and not identifying its causes, different associated psychopathologies may appear as the anxiety, stress and depression.

Generally, the somatic disease or somatization disorder manifests itself at the beginning of old age. adult, approximately around 30 years of age and its prevalence in the general population is from 5 to 7%.

The somatic symptoms that a person may experience can be classified into different categories. Next, we will show you how to know if you are somatizing:

• pains: They manifest in four or more different areas such as the head, abdomen, back, joints, extremities, thorax or rectum.
• Gastrointestinal disturbances: presence of nausea and abdominal swelling.
• sexual dysfunctions: irregular periods in women or erectile or ejaculatory dysfunction in men. In this article you will find more information about the sexual disorders.
• Pseudoneurological alterations: impaired coordination and balance, muscle weakness or paralysis, difficulty swallowing, hoarseness, urinary sensation, hallucinations, blindness, loss of consciousness, among others.

In addition to the somatization symptoms mentioned above, the person may have excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors associated with health concerns.

Somatization has been associated in numerous cases with anxiety disorders. In this sense, and following the definition offered by Lipowski, somatization is understood as the transformation of the symptomatology cognitive and affective alterations in real physical diseases or ailments that are aggravated, or appear due to stress and/or due to high levels of sustained anxietyin the time.

In this case, it is understood that somatic symptoms are the affective expression on a physical plane. In this way, we could determine that the cause of somatization disorder is an untreated psychological affliction, generally associated with anxiety or affective disturbances.

If you wonder what causes somatization, currently there is no specific and defined etiology to explain why this phenomenon appears, but we can conclude that there are different predisposing factors that generate a vulnerability to suffer from it and that explain why it happens to some people and not to others. Let's see which ones:

• biological factors such as being more sensitive to pain.
• Genetic factors.
• Family background: family and personal medical history of anxiety or depression.
• personal factors: educational level, lower perception to identify and process emotions, anxious personality or neuroticism.
• Environmental factors: having recently experienced stressful life events, unemployment, social stress and social reinforcing factors by showing complaints about ailments
• victims of sexual abuse or physical abuse in childhood.

In some cases, it should be noted that somatization appears due to the existence of another previous medical pathology such as cancer or heart disease, among others.

There are different forms of somatization included within and registered as disorders in the DSM-V. Next, we will show you what they are:

• Somatic symptom disorder.
• Illness anxiety disorder or hypochondriasis.
• Conversion disorder.
• Disorder with psychological factors that influence other medical conditions.
• factitious disorder.

How to stop somatizing? This disorder can be treated in different ways that you will see below.

Cognitive-behavioral psychology approach

The current of the cognitive behavioral psychology It is in charge of working on behavioral, behavioral, thoughts and other psychological aspects that may be harming the patient's psychological functioning.

This treatment helps to stop somatizing in the following way:

• Relieves symptoms of pain.
• It helps to become aware of the existence of this problem.
• Provides tools for manage negative thoughts recurring.
• Reduces and improves stress management. In this article you will see how to manage stress.
• It allows have a better well-being and quality of life.

Awareness of the environment and oneself

When it comes to stopping somatization, it is also important to work with the environment and cognitions, so that the individual cannot obtain social benefits for expressing their complaints. The objective is remove social reinforcers that are directly involved in the maintenance of somatization.

Go to a psychologist

When in doubt about how to cure somatization if the patient suffers from other psychological disorders, such as depression or anxiety, it is essential look for a specialized professional to stop somatizing. Pharmacological treatment, using antidepressant and/or anxiolytic drugs, is also recommended in these cases to alleviate the symptoms of depression or anxiety. A combination of this treatment together with the psychological one would be the most recommended by the specialists.

This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to How to stop somatizing, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

1. American psychiatric association, (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM – 5. Madrid Spain. Panamerican medical editorial.

• Belloch, A., Sandin, B., Ramos, F., (2009). Manual of psychopathology, volume II. Madrid. McGraw Hill / Interamericana de España, S.A.U.