TIL: Somatoform disorders changed dramatically from DSM-IV to DSM-V. Somatoform disorders are conditions where a patient experiences some physical symptom, but medical science can't find a reason for either the existence or severity of the symptoms. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the bible of psychiatry. This is the official book of diagnoses that is revised every decade or so, and causes an uproar nearly every time. Whereas traditional medical diagnoses rarely change and when they do it's gradual, the DSM reorganizes the entire field of psychiatry every time it comes out. Whole diseases are invented, merged or deleted.
In the most recent revision of the DSM, the section of somatoform and factitious disorders was one of the most extensively reorganised. Four of the seven original somatoform disorders were removed (somatization disorder, hypochondriasis, pain disorder, and undifferentiated somatoform disorder) and one new super-disorder was created (somatic symptom disorder). Also, the wording was changed so that there is more emphasis on reassuring the patient that their symptoms are real to them. No one likes to hear that their pain or physical dysfunction is all in their head, even if it is. So instead of concentrating on a lack of medical evidence for their complaints, we are instead encouraged to rule out medical causes and then treat their symptoms using the only ways we know how - psychiatrically.
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