Treatments
To date, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the best established treatment for a variety of somatoform disorders including somatization disorder. CBT helps with the patient realizing that the ailments are not as catastrophic and enabling them to slowly get back to doing activities that they once were able to do without fear of “worsening their symptoms.” Consultation and collaboration with the primary care physician also demonstrated some effectiveness. The use of antidepressants is preliminary but does not yet show conclusive evidence. Electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT) has been used in treating somatization disorder among the elderly; however, the results were still debatable with some concerns around the side effects of using ECT. Overall, psychologists recommend addressing a common difficulty in patients with somatization disorder in the reading of their own emotions. This may be a central feature of treatment; as well as developing a close collaboration between the GP, the patient and the mental health practitioner
Read more about this topic: Somatization Disorder