In Somatic Symptom Disorder, excessive what related to the somatic symptoms or health concerns is required?

• A. time
• B. thoughts, feelings, or behaviors
• C. money
• D. sleep

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that Somatic Symptom Disorder centers on an excessive mental and behavioral response to somatic symptoms, not just the presence of the symptoms themselves. People with this disorder have one or more somatic symptoms that are distressing, and they experience disproportionate and persistent thoughts about their seriousness, high levels of health-related anxiety, and/or excessive time and energy devoted to these symptoms or health concerns. This heightened preoccupation can occur even if medical evaluation doesn’t reveal a serious illness.

So, the required feature is excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors related to the symptoms or health concerns. For example, someone might continually worry that a mild chest tightness signals a heart problem, repeatedly seek reassurance, and spend a great deal of time researching symptoms, which reflects the excessive cognitive and behavioral response. Time devoted to symptoms is part of the behavior, but the core concept is the overall excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors about the symptoms.