Somatic Symptom Disorder

Somatic symptom disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an excessive focus on physical symptoms, such as pain or shortness of breath, that causes significant distress or impairment. People with the condition experience disproportionate thoughts, emotions, and behaviors related to their symptoms, which are not deliberately produced or feigned as they are in malingering or factitious disorders, and the disorder can develop alongside an existing chronic illness or a newly onset condition. Onset is typically in childhood, diagnosis requires symptoms to persist for at least six months, and the condition is estimated to affect about 13 to 23 percent of the general population.