Article
Article
Psychosomatic disorders
Article By:
Fernando, Gaithri A. Department of Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles, California.
Last reviewed:August 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.555050
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Physiological symptoms or illnesses that are caused or exacerbated by the mind. Psychosomatic disorders are physical diseases of the body that are causally related to or worsened by mental factors. Starting in the 1930s, the term psychosomatic illness was used regularly by psychoanalysts to refer to unconscious processes in the mind (psyche) [Fig. 1] that caused bodily (somatic) symptoms and disorders (psychogenesis), or to refer to somatic presentations of mental disorders. A more recent term used in the last half of the twentieth century was psychophysiological disorders. However, neither term is used much in current research and practice, with usage being primarily confined to the general population. See also: Brain; Mental disorders; Psychoanalysis; Psychology
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