Cultural evolution of somatization disorders

Abstract For many years, somatization disorders were considered to be exist as no man’s land between the area of medicine and that of psychiatry. From the initial description by Hippocrates to the current definition in the International Classification of Diseases, eleventh revision (ICD-11), there has been constant evolution in classification somatization disorders. This classification system should consider a cross-cultural approach, which, together with basic knowledge from familiarizing oneself with cross-cultural viewpoints, will prevent clinicians from overlooking psychological distress. The journey from hysteria to somatization to the current medically unexplained symptoms has been along the lines with prevailing ways of understanding illnesses that have evolved further along the same lines with the evolution of biological sciences. The common occurrence of somatization disorders in various forms has evoked interest in many researchers in the field of psychiatry.