Other Specified Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders

Other Specified Somatic Symptom Disorders is a category of DSM-5 diagnoses that applies to individuals who have symptoms characteristic of somatic symptom and related disorder (e.g. - somatic symptom disorder, illness anxiety disorder) but do not meet the full criteria for any of them. “Other Specified” diagnoses are not limited to these disorders and are used throughout the DSM-5 to capture presentations where individuals have significant clinical impairment but do not meet standard criteria.

Examples of disorders that can be specified using the “other specified” diagnosis include the following:

Duration of symptoms is less than 6 months.

Duration of symptoms is less than 6 months.

Criterion D for illness anxiety disorder is not met.

A false belief of being pregnant that is associated with objective signs and reported symptoms of pregnancy.

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