[From perception to symptom--from symptom to diagnosis. Somatoform disorders as a communication phenomenon between...

Patients with somatoform disorders probably constitute the largest diagnostic group in daily medical practice. A major communication problem forms the core of somatoform disorders: patients report about complaints which their physicians do not understand; there is no sufficient biological reason for the patient's symptoms. This article discusses the multifactorial origin of somatoform disorders, consisting of minimal physiological changes, the perception of bodily sensations, and their interpretation as symptoms (non-normal perceptions), as well as ensuing emotional and behavioral consequences. Concerning the communication problem, it is important to realize that patients normally present symptoms, whereas the underlying bodily perceptions and the explanatory models are rarely communicated to the physician. On the physician's side, symptoms presented by patients are subjected to his or her explanatory concepts translating symptoms into indicators of certain diseases. Thus, the information introduced into physician-patient communication by the patient has usually passed several cognitive circuits within the patient or between the patients and other significant conversation partners thus shaping its specific components. It is recommended that physicians try to trace back their patients' symptoms to bodily sensations and explanatory models in order to base their diagnostic and therapeutic reasoning on the same kind of information. Empirical evidence is presented to support the inter-dependence of the components of the model, on both the patient's and the physician's side. Therapeutic interventions based upon the model are presented.