A somatic symptom has a corporeal origin.
In order to determine the etymological origin of somatic , we have to go to Greek. And in this language there are the two components that give shape to this term: the noun “soma”, which can be translated as “body”, and the suffix “-tico”, which is equivalent to “relative to”.
Somatic is used to name, in an animated being, that which is corporeal or material .
Somatic symptom
In biology and medicine , a somatic symptom is one whose nature is eminently of this type (corporeal), unlike psychic symptoms.
For example: “We thought the dizziness was due to stress, but it turned out to be a somatic issue” , “The doctor recommended Bruno see a psychologist, since he did not find any somatic evidence of what he indicates” , “The “Somatic and psychological problems must be treated with the same seriousness.”
When blood pressure rises due to nervousness, it is a somatic effect that arises from an emotional factor.
Disorders of emotional origin and with physical consequences
Psychosomatic disorders are those psychic processes that have influence and effects on the somatic. This means that certain somatic symptoms (with bodily evidence) can have their origin in emotional processes. This reality is very difficult for doctors to specify since it involves variables that are inaccessible to the scientific method.
The rise in blood pressure in a nervous situation, blushing (turning red) when you feel embarrassed , and irritable bowel syndrome due to stress are some examples of somatic consequences from something emotional.
somatic cells
In addition to all of the above, we would have to highlight the existence of what are known as somatic cells. These are those whose clear mission is to undertake what would be the growth of the organs and tissues that give shape to the body of a multicellular living being.
It is also important to know a series of characteristics that define them regarding this type of cells:
• They are all the same, from a genetic point of view.
• Its origin is found in half of the father's genes and half of the mother's genes, which come together during the process called fertilization.
The SNS
The somatic nervous system ( SNS ), on the other hand, is the system composed of sensory neurons that transfer information from sensory receptors (such as the skin ) to the central nervous system ( CNS ) through motor axons.
The spinal nerves, cranial nerves, optic nerve, olfactory nerve, common occult motor nerve, trigeminal nerve, trochlear nerve and vagus nerve are some of the components of the SNS . Likewise, we must also highlight the existence of the facial nerve, the auditory nerve or the pneumogastric nerve.
Of all these components, two of them are worth highlighting:
• The spinal nerves are those whose mission is to send sensory information about the extremities or trunk to the central nervous system. To do this, they resort to the spinal cord as a transmission route.
• The cranial nerves, as their name indicates, what they do is send sensory data from the neck and head to the aforementioned central nervous system.