Review article

Somatization and Functional Disorders: The Cross Between Psychological and Physical

Duška Krnić

Abstract

Somatization and functional disorders make up a frequent but obstruse clinical problem that lies on the border between psychiatry and somatic medicine. In everyday clinical practice, it involves patients who suffer from valid and burdensome physical symptoms, which at the same time cannot be defined in a classic biomedical model. The DSM-5 classification redefined earlier somatoform disorders as Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD), highlighting the patient's psychological response to symptoms, rather than on the existence of an organic explanation. Functional disorders, conversely, are increasingly seen as disorders of the regulation of bodily functions and not the absence of disease. Contemporary methods emphasize shared neurobiological and psychological mechanisms and the need for an integrated biopsychosocial model. The therapeutic approach is based on an unremitting therapeutic method, psychotherapy, and rational pharmacotherapy. Future research is concerned with better understanding neurobiological mechanisms, development of biomarkers, and development of personalized therapeutic approaches.

Keywords

somatization, Somatic Symptom Disorder, functional disorders, biopsychosocial model, psychiatry

Hrčak ID:

349185

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/349185

Publication date:

10.7.2026.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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