A somatic symptom disorder is any kind of mental disorder which manifests as actual physical symptoms that may suggest some type of injury or an illness, but one that cannot be explained fully by a general medical condition...or by any type of direct effect of any substance, and are not attributable to another mental disorder of some sort...people who have been diagnosed with this condition show medical tests are either perfectly normal or do not give any kind of indication of a physical ailment that would cause such symptoms...usually the background of the patient is thoroughly scrutinized for any type of past history that might shed some light on why the symptoms are present...Psychotherapy, more specifically, something called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is widely used as a form of treatment for Somatic symptom disorder..these type of therapies can help a patient learn to reduce the stress in their life which may be playing a factor...it can help them to deal with other possible psychological problems that may be plaguing them and causing the disorder to occur...the therapy may also help them to improve their quality of life by reducing their preoccupation with the symptoms...in one case, a lady was constantly going to her doctor complaining of various symptoms to which the doctor could find nothing wrong with her after a battery of tests...the woman then found employment which took up many of her hours and mental focus, and the symptoms vanished.
