Somatization: What Is It And What Symptoms Does It Produce?
Historically, many psychological theories treat the body and mind as if they were two distinct entities that only associate in some aspects to allow the existence of self-aware, fully functional human beings. Curiously, from these approaches the “material” body of people only has power over the mind in the aspect that it retains it in a specific place and, for the rest, it is the mind that proposes objectives, controls the movements of the body and , from time to time, looks for ways to transcend his “flesh prison.”
Nowadays, both psychology and of course psychiatry increasingly tend to ignore the existence of a “mind” independent of the material body, but curiously, and despite the scientific and technical advances of recent decades, There are certain mental disorders that seem to claim the existence of a disembodied psychological aspect. even though we know that is impossible. An example of this is offered by a phenomenon called somatization.
The somatization is a set of physical symptoms that cause discomfort and that cannot be explained medically from an examination of the body. That is to say, where there is somatization there are problems related to pain and discomfort for which a cause cannot be found from a medical examination.
Due to the difficulties in finding the origin of the problem, the attention of diagnosis and treatments usually falls on the Somatic Nervous System that is, the part of the nervous system that carries sensory information and serves as a channel for electrical impulses that activate the muscles.
Somatizations often form a kind of “catch-all” of diagnostic criteria, since they often serve to create categories in which certain problems are included that it is not very clear why they are produced. This should not be surprising, given that the range of symptoms under which a disorder that fits the definition of “somatization” can appear is very wide, and locating the origin of an illness in the functioning of the nervous system always causes more problems than locating it. in very specific parts of the body, such as certain areas of cellular tissue or organs.
Furthermore, manuals with criteria for diagnosing cases of somatization almost always include the condition that these symptoms cannot be satisfactorily explained by another disorder or disease.
Somatizations are, therefore, difficult to explain if you want to isolate in a laboratory the cause of all the physical and psychological complications that it produces but they began to be studied and documented a long time ago. That is why it is normal that for a time they were associated with what was known in psychoanalysis as hysteria, and that even today it is believed in certain academic circles that somatizations are the consequence of certain psychological problems that struggle to escape from the Unconscious.
What people usually develop them?
By statistics, women are slightly more likely to somatize than men and normally this occurs for the first time during youth, before the age of 30. In addition, correlations have been found between leading a life linked to severe stressors, which explains why the most impoverished and less educated population is especially susceptible to experiencing cases of somatization.
This last piece of information can serve to suggest that somatizations have a situational component, and therefore to study them it is necessary to understand not only the individual, but also their relationship with the environment.
How are they usually expressed?
The most common somatizations are related to the sexual problems (such as pain during penetration or erectile dysfunction), persistent headaches and joint pain. However, as we have already seen, there are many symptoms that can fit into what we know as somatization.
And how is a case of somatization treated?
Everything related to the nervous system must be treated from an approach that covers both the psychological and behavioral aspects of the person as well as the physical phenomena that can be addressed directly in the patient’s body. That is why it is worth medically monitoring the evolution of somatization while providing Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
