Somatization is the generation of somatic symptoms due to psychological distress, often coinciding with a tendency to seek medical help for them. [1][2] The term somatization was introduced by Wilhelm Stekel in 1924. The meaning of SOMATIZATION is conversion of a mental state (such as depression or anxiety) into physical symptoms; also : the existence of physical bodily complaints in the absence of a known medical condition. The term central sensitization has been created to describe the neurobiological notion that those predisposed to somatization have an overly sensitive neural network. Somatic symptom disorder (SSD formerly known as somatization disorder or somatoform disorder ) is a form of mental illness that causes one or more bodily symptoms, including pain. What Is Somatization? Somatization refers to the tendency to experience and express psychological distress through physical symptoms. Overview Somatic symptom disorder involves focusing too much on physical symptoms such as pain or tiredness. This focus causes major emotional distress and makes it hard to function. You may or may not have another medical condition that causes these symptoms. But how you think, feel and behave because of the symptoms can be extreme. Somatization is the expression of psychological or emotional factors as physical (somatic) symptoms. For example, stress can cause some people to develop headaches, chest pain, back pain, nausea. Somatization is the expression of mental phenomena as physical (somatic) symptoms. Disorders characterized by somatization extend in a continuum from those in which symptoms develop unconsciously and nonvolitionally to those in which symptoms develop consciously and volitionally. When mental factors such as stress cause physical symptoms the condition is known as somatisation. Somatoform disorders are a severe form of somatisation. What Is Somatization? Somatization is the development of physical symptoms that can be attributed to psychological factors, ultimately disrupting your daily life or causing significant distress.