​Pathology - Somatization Disorder

​Pathology - Somatization Disorder
Of the five somatoform illnesses, somatization disorder is a highly specific diagnosis. It involves a history of several medical symptoms that started before the age of thirty and persisted for a number of years, either requiring treatment or seriously impairing social or vocational functioning. Four pain symptoms (relating to at least four different sites or functions), two gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g., nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), one sexual or reproductive symptom (e.g., irregular menses, sexual dysfunction), and one pseudoneurological symptom (e.g., impaired coordination, weakness, double vision) that cannot be explained by a physical or laboratory examination are all required to be included in the complaints. Unlike factitious disorder, when the patient's aim is to seem to be ill, or malingering, where there are extrinsic incentives like financial gain, this condition's symptoms are the product of unconscious psychological variables and are not purposefully manufactured. Related disorders include conversion disorder, which is characterized by one or more neurologic symptoms impairing voluntary motor or sensory function, and pain disorder, which is primarily focused on pain at one or more anatomical sites.