The psychosomatics of distress: case study insights into lived experience and therapeutic change

This article will consider the contentious and often stigmatised position that people find themselves in when physical symptoms appear to be associated with psychosocial distress. Deeply ingrained public misunderstanding about what might be described as the psychosomatic can have powerful influences over a person’s relationships and sense of self. I will consider the role that psychotherapy can play in working with clients who present with bodily symptoms, and introduce my own research, presently underway: a multi-case study of 12 months of clinical practice, concerned with two key questions: what does change look like, and how is change facilitated?