Somatic Symptom Disorder in People living with Chronic pain: Prevalence, Risk & Key Differences
| Key things to know | What the evidence shows |
|---|---|
| How common is it? | Not established pooled DSM-5 SSD prevalence |
| Is it more common among people living with chronic pain? | Pain is one of the most important somatic presentations relevant to SSD |
| Are people living with chronic pain at higher risk? | Strong clinical relationship |
| How much higher is the risk? | Not established clean pooled RR |
| How often can it be missed? | Extremely High |
| Does it show up differently among people living with chronic pain? | Very Strong Yes |
| How might it look different? | Pain can be entirely real; concern becomes SSD-relevant when disproportionate cognitive/behavioural response causes additional impairment |
| What commonly occurs alongside it? | Depression; anxiety; PTSD; sleep problems |
| What can it be confused with? | Chronic pain disorder/medical pain; FND; depression; opioid/medication effects |
| Common screening tool | SSD-12 — Somatic Symptom Disorder–B Criteria Scale |
| Separate screening tool for people living with chronic pain | None established |
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