As a student who is interested in psychology and how the brain works, learning about somatic symptom disorder intrigues me. I've never heard of this disorder before, but hypochondria is about the closest thing to a somatic disorder that I've heard of. Now, the first thing that really caught my attention about this disorder was the definition: "People with somatic symptom disorder become excessively distressed, preoccupied, and anxious about the bodily symptoms they experience, and their lives is greatly disturbed by the symptoms. » (Comer, 2014). This blew my mind. I have always known people who thought they had every disease or who believed they were suffering from something that they did not suffer from. I am also aware of the placebo effect, but that people can create such distress in their lives from bodily symptoms that they experience. is something that brought out my curious nature about why and how. Another thing that interests me a lot is that there are two types of somatic symptom disorders, called somatization pattern (the individual experiences a large and even varied number of bodily symptoms) and predominant pain pattern (which is the main physical problem of the individual being the experience of pain) (Comer, 2014). The symptoms of somatic symptom disorder can often be difficult to notice because they are psychological and the pain they express can often seem legitimate. Many people with the somatization pattern of somatic symptom disorder will suffer from many long-term physical conditions, and these conditions usually have little or no physical basis (Comer, 2014). These people usually go from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital just to find relief or even answers...... middle of paper ... from society. As previously stated, this untreated disorder can cause great distress in an individual's life, potentially leading to loss of employment or even ruining relationships they might have with others. The individual's pain may also make them unable to go out, which may cause them to become depressed or even antisocial. The DSM-5 Checklist states that somatic symptom disorder is the presence of one or more somatic symptoms that are distressing and/or significantly disruptive to daily life. He goes on to say that these excessive thinking and feeling behaviors can take up too much time and energy devoted to their symptoms or health problems and these can usually last longer than six months, but are not always continuous. (Comer, 2014). .Works CitedComer, RJ (2014). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology (7 ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.