Many times, somatization is associated with psychosocial stress, but can sometimes linger after the stress factors have been resolved. This sometimes leads patients to believe the correct cause has not yet been diagnosed.
Somatization affects the gastrointestinal, nervous, cardiopulmonary, or reproductive systems.
Somatization
There is no definite cure for somatization disorder, but there are methods that can ease the disorder. Antidepressants and cognitive behavioral therapy (specifically group therapy) are well known treatments.
Briquet's syndrome-- Another name for somatization disorder.
The primary difference between hypochondriasis and somatization disorder is that people manifesting the former are fearful that their symptoms indicate a serious disease(s), whereas those with somatization disorder typically do not progress beyond a concern with the symptoms themselves.
Somatization is the process by which mental and emotional stresses become physical in the form of psychosomatic illnesses. Some experts believe that, as stresses play on the body, the weakest or most prone system becomes the likely target for somatization. Others believe the area affected by somatization has a direct relationship to the nature of the negative thought patterns through mind/body relationships not yet fully understood. Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-somatization.htm
Somatoform or somatization disorder refers to a group of chronic conditions where physical symptoms such as pain and discomfort are present but no organic cause could be identified for them.
Only you know why you get so scared when doctors can't find anything wrong with you even though you are in pain. You should explain to the doctor where you are in pain, the severity of pain, and the frequency of pain. You may have a somatization disorder, which is when a person has physical problems caused by psychological problems. However, this doesn't mean that you are psycho or crazy. Discuss the possibility of somatization disorder with your doctor.
Elsa G. Shapiro has written: 'The somatizing child' -- subject(s): Conversion disorder in children, Somatization disorder in children, Somatoform disorders in children
Patients with somatization disorder or pain disorder may be helped by a variety of alternative therapies including acupuncture, hydrotherapy, therapeutic massage, meditation, botanical medicine, and homeopathic treatment.
prognosis for somatoform disorders depends.on.age and whether the disorder is chronic or episodic. somatization disorder and body dysmorphic disorder rarely resolve completely. Conversion disorder tends to be rapidly resolved, but may recur in.25%
To somatize is to take stress and basically turn it into or express it in somatic ways. A child with separation anxiety may somatize the anxiety and express it as a stomach ache. In somatization, the stomach ache is real, but a major cause of the stomach ache is anxiety. The term "somatization" is associated with a specific disorder, which involves the occurrence of multiple physical complaints over a period of time which are believed to have more of a basis in mental health rather than in an actual physical disorder (See the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders for more detail on that). The term psychosomatic is a more general term for the study of medical issues in which psychological factors play a major role. Psychosomatic medicine would include the study and treatment of, for instance, heart disease and diabetes in which psychological factors play an important role, but also other somatoform disorders (of which somatization disorder is one). such as In conversion blindness (also a somatoform disorder), the sufferer cannot see even though the brain and eye function normally. It is believed that because of psychological factors, the sufferer's exprience is that they cannot see. They are not believed to be 'faking" blindness (that would be termed "malingering if the purpose was for some sort of secondary gain like money, and it would be called "factitious disorder" if the purpose was to for primary gain like being in the sick role and receiving sympathy). In conversion blindess the sufferer really experiences themselves as blind despite the fact that the cause is psychological rather than physiological. The psychoanalytic explanation for this would be that there was something in the person's environment that they desperately do not want to see, and "blindness" is the unconscious mind's solution to the problem. In the psychosomatic study of heart disease, however, there is more of a focus on the impact of stress, anxiety, and anger on the heart and its functioning. In psychoneuroimmunology, there is a focus on the ability of certain personality traits and ways of managing stress to impact overall health and resistance to disease.