psychosomatic

adjective psy·cho·so·mat·ic \ ˌsī-kō-sə-ˈma-tik \

Updated on: 20 Mar 2018

1 : of, relating to, concerned with, or involving both mind and body

the psychosomatic nature of man
—Herbert Ratner

2 : of, relating to, involving, or concerned with bodily symptoms caused by mental or emotional disturbance

psychosomatic symptoms

psychosomatic medicine

—

psychosomatically

play \ˌsī-kō-sə-ˈma-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

See psychosomatic defined for English-language learners

See psychosomatic defined for kids

Examples of psychosomatic in a Sentence

The doctor told her that her stomach problems were psychosomatic.

Recent Examples of psychosomatic from the Web

Two women, a famous actress afflicted with a psychosomatic loss of speech (Liv Ullmann) and a garrulous nurse (Bibi Andersson)--share a remote seaside cottage where their identities overlap, blur and eventually merge.

— greg burnett, cleveland.com, "7 classic Ingmar Bergman films to be screened at the Peter Lewis Theater," 4 Mar. 2018
Many also presented symptoms that lasted for months and were not psychosomatic, the doctors wrote.

— nora gámez torres, miamiherald, "Cuba shares plans for a single currency and more during a visit by U.S. lawmakers | Miami Herald," 21 Feb. 2018
Scapegoating involves blaming a group of innocent (or possibly nonexistent) others for causing problems – psychosomatic or otherwise.

— barry markovsky, Houston Chronicle, "Cuban 'sonic attacks' to US: Mass hysterias will never go away," 9 Jan. 2018
After an array of tests on my brain, nerves, and joints all came back normal, five different doctors dismissed my symptoms as stress-induced or psychosomatic.

— lizz schumer, SELF, "How My Husband and I Make Our Marriage Work, Even With Chronic Illness," 26 Sep. 2017
Having largely concluded that ME/CFS must be a psychosomatic illness, the biomedical community didn’t see much reason to research it.

— maya dusenbery, Cosmopolitan, "Millions of Women Suffer From a Disease That Virtually Sucks the Life Out of Them — But Doctors Still Don’t Take It Seriously," 4 Oct. 2017
Many women suffer from invisible chronic diseases — from fibromyalgia to vulvodynia to interstitial cystitis to migraine — that have historically been seen as psychosomatic and remain poorly understood.

— maya dusenbery, Cosmopolitan, "Millions of Women Suffer From a Disease That Virtually Sucks the Life Out of Them — But Doctors Still Don’t Take It Seriously," 4 Oct. 2017
For many anxious people, the psychosomatic symptom possibilities are endless, and only infrequently indicate that something is actually wrong.

— katie heaney, The Cut, "Anxiety Makes It Harder to Listen to Your Intuition," 17 Oct. 2017
He also was plagued by anxiety, self-doubt, and real and psychosomatic ailments.

— daniel oppenheimer, New Republic, "The Love Affairs of an American Radical," 2 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'psychosomatic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Since the Greek word soma means "body", psychosomatic suggests the link between mind and body. Since one's mental state may have an important effect on one's physical state, research on new medicines always involves giving some patients in the experiment a placebo (fake medicine), and some who receive the sugar pills will seem to improve. You may hear someone say of someone else's symptoms, "Oh, it's probably just psychosomatic", implying that the physical pain or illness is imaginary--maybe just an attempt to get sympathy--and that the person could will it away if he or she wanted to. But this can be harsh and unfair, since, whatever the cause is, the pain is usually real.

Origin and Etymology of psychosomatic

International Scientific Vocabulary

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1834

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Psychology Terms

fetish, hypochondria, intelligence, mania, narcissism, neurosis, pathological, psychosis, schadenfreude, subliminal

PSYCHOSOMATIC Defined for English Language Learners

psychosomatic

adjective

: caused by mental or emotional problems rather than by physical illness

Medical Dictionary

psychosomatic

adjective psy·cho·so·mat·ic \ ˌsī-kə-sə-ˈmat-ik, -kō-, -sō- \

1 : of, relating to, concerned with, or involving both mind and body

the psychosomatic nature of man
—Herbert Ratner

2 a : of, relating to, involving, or concerned with bodily symptoms caused by mental or emotional disturbance

psychosomatic illness

psychosomatic medicine

b : exhibiting psychosomatic symptoms

a psychosomatic patient

—

psychosomatically

play \-i-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

psychosomatic

noun

: an individual exhibiting psychosomatic symptoms

Learn More about psychosomatic

See words that rhyme with psychosomatic Spanish Central: Translation of psychosomatic Nglish: Translation of psychosomatic for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of psychosomatic for Arabic speakers

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psychosomatic

psychosomatically

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Origin and Etymology of psychosomatic

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