Health psychology/Defence mechanisms · Immature

Somatisation

What it means

Unconscious conversion of psychological distress into physical symptoms.

Worked example

Stress presenting as medically unexplained abdominal pain or fatigue.

In the exam

A man under severe work stress develops recurrent unexplained abdominal pain and headaches, with normal investigations.

What settles it

Somatisation expresses distress as bodily symptoms unconsciously. It differs from malingering (conscious, for gain) and factitious disorder (conscious, for the sick role).

Classically confused with

Conversion

Source: AMBOSS