- Somatization
- The process by which psychologic distress is expressed as physical symptoms. Somatization is an unconscious process. In somatization, mental experiences or states are "converted" to bodily symptoms. A tension headache is an example: tension is converted to a headache. Somatization is a normal phenomenon. However, some patients with somatization have psychiatric conditions. A person who is expressing physical symptoms as a result of psychological distress is said to be somatizing. The word "somatization" comes from the Greek "some" meaning body. Somatization is a part of psychosomatic medicine, the mind-body relationships, the interactions between the mind (the "psyche") and body (the "soma").
* * *The process by which psychological needs are expressed in physical symptoms; e.g., the expression or conversion into physical symptoms of anxiety, or a wish for material gain associated with a legal action following an injury, or a related psychological need. SEE ALSO: s. disorder.
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so·ma·ti·za·tion .sō-mət-ə-'zā-shən or chiefly Brit so·ma·ti·sa·tion -mə-.tī-' n conversion of a mental state (as depression or anxiety) into physical symptoms also the existence of physical bodily complaints in the absence of a known medical condition* * *
so·ma·ti·za·tion (so″mə-tĭ-zaґshən) in psychiatry, the conversion of mental experiences or states into bodily symptoms.
Medical dictionary. 2011.