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Liz S's picture

somatic symptoms

Submitted by Liz S on Tue, 03/06/2007 - 10:50am.

I agree with Antonia - mental inputs such as depression can most ceretainly have the physical effects on the body. In the case of depression, there are a whole host of physical symptoms - lack of appetite, fatigue, increase or decrease in sleep patterns, etc. that the DSM lists as criteria for an episode of major depression.

Also, children represent depression with more physical symptoms. This may be because they lack the words to explain mental anguish, but in other countries depression is also seen as a more somatic illness. Yes, there are cultural differences in what's an accepted disorder/way of feeling/norm, but I believe that mental inputs can most definitely lead to painful (or the opposite) effects on the body.

And just to note, anxiety presents with a lot of somatic symptoms (and anxiety is most certainly tied in with stress).

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