SOMATIZATION IN PATIENTS NEWLY ADMITTED TO A NEUROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT

The incidence of somatization and sociodemographic, clinical and menta l factors in 100 consecutive patients newly admitted to a neurological department was investigated. Forty percent of the neurological inpati ents were somatizers; they reported higher levels of distress and hypo chondriacal concerns and were more often considered as having signific ant mental disorders by the neurologists. The somatizers were similar to patients with organic symptoms with respect to sociodemographic fac tors, duration of and number of symptoms, mode of admission and earlie r consultations of psychiatric or other specialists. Most of the patie nts with somatization only believed that psychological factors influen ced their somatic symptoms. No sex differences were found except that female somatizers had shorter duration of admission.