Non-organic somatic symptoms in cancer

Somatic symptoms considered as unrelated to cancer or grossly out of proportion to the known pathology were systematically assessed in a group of 98 consecutively referred cases. Subjects with prominent somatic symptoms (somatisers) had depression (53%), anxiety (12%) and atypical somatoform disorder (27%). During follow-up, somatisers with depression showed clinical improvement whereas those with atypical somatoform disorder showed no improvement or deteriorated. Methods of distinguishing the cause of somatic symptoms in cancer patients are discussed.