Bodily distress disorder

Bodily Distress Syndrome (BDS) has been proposed as a new mental health disorder, involving psychological distress resulting from physical symptoms.

Controversy
There has been concern from researchers, clinicians, patients with ME/CFS, chronic pain patients and others that a medical condition with a biological cause may be diagnosed with Bodily Distress Syndrome instead of a physical illness, which could result in the denial of medical tests to establish the correct diagnosis, the denial of medical care, and for severely ill patients possibly forced psychiatric treatment or hospitalization, such as that experienced by Karina Hansen and Sophia Mirza.

Notable studies

 * 2017, Contesting the psychiatric framing of ME/CFS (Full text)


 * 2019, Bodily Distress Syndrome: Concerns About Scientific Credibility in Research and Implementation (Full text)