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The somatic symptom and related disorders comprise a heterogeneous group of psychiatric illnesses characterized by prominent physical symptoms or complaints associated with significant distress and impairment. Their conceptualization under the category of somatoform disorders in DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association 1994, 2000) required that these presentations lack objective organic causes, often labeled in the literature as “medically unexplained symptoms.” This requirement was deleted in DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association 2013), largely because somatic symptoms often do have related medical conditions. Even when such associations have not been established, the belief that they are not present has often led to patients being labeled in pejorative ways, as though they are faking symptoms or are somehow responsible for their own suffering.
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