Page 27 - JCBP-3-4

Journal of Clinical and

Basic Psychosomatics

REVIEW ARTICLE
Diagnosis and assessment of somatic symptom

and related disorders among older adults: Issues
and strategies

Charlotte Howell 1 , Daniel L. Segal * , and Shaynie Segal 2
1
1 Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado,
United States of America
2 Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of America

Abstract

The limited understanding and literature concerning somatic symptom and related
disorders (SSRDs), especially in older adults, further complicates accurate and
sensitive diagnosis and assessment for this growing and specialized population. As
the population of older adults is expected to grow exponentially, the purposes of
this paper are to identify and elucidate key diagnostic and assessment challenges
for SSRDs among older individuals to inform further research and guide practice.
This paper also describes common self-report measures for SSRDs and describes the
psychometric evidence for the use of these measures with older adults. Regarding
diagnosis, older adults have higher rates of somatic multimorbidity and can
incorrectly attribute somatic symptoms to normal aging. Furthermore, cognitive
*Corresponding author: impairment rates are higher in older adults, impacting the accuracy of reporting
Daniel L. Segal SSRD symptoms. Regarding assessment, there are no elder-specific measures of
(dsegal@uccs.edu) SSRDs. Moreover, few of the current SSRD measures have been specifically validated
Citation: Howell C, Segal DL, for use with older adults. In addition, due to lack of education and awareness, mental
Segal S. Diagnosis and assessment health clinicians and medical providers may hold stigmatizing views of older adults
of somatic symptom and related
disorders among older adults: with SSRD symptoms. The complex symptom presentation of SSRDs in older adults
Issues and strategies. J Clin Basic also complicates the efficacy of assessments. The paper concludes with suggestions
Psychosom. 2025;3(4):21-29. for further research on SSRDs with diverse older adult populations.
doi: 10.36922/JCBP025080013
Received: February 20, 2025
Keywords: Somatic symptom and related disorders; Older adults; Diagnosis; Treatment
Revised: April 7, 2025
Accepted: May 7, 2025
Published online: May 28, 2025 1. Introduction
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article Physical symptoms have been a part of diverse psychiatric disorders since the earliest
distributed under the terms of the conceptions of psychopathology. In the distant past, philosophers espoused a strong
1
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution, dualism between mind and body, essentially arguing that the mind and body are
and reproduction in any medium, fundamentally distinct. Modern-day medical providers, health service psychologists,
provided the original work is
properly cited. and other behavioral health providers now know differently; it is clear that the mind and
body are impactfully and inexorably linked. This strong interaction is a key component
1
Publisher’s Note: AccScience 2
Publishing remains neutral with of the biopsychosocial model of psychopathology.
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional The mental disorder category most closely linked to this strong mind-body
affiliations. connection is called somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRDs) in the current

Volume 3 Issue 4 (2025) 21 doi: 10.36922/JCBP025080013