Gender, lifespan and cultural aspects

It is well established in the literature that women experience and report more somatic symptoms than men and the prevalence of bodily distress syndromes, i.e. medically unexplained symptoms, functional somatic syndromes and somatoform disorders, is higher in women than in men [1]. In this chapter, we will demonstrate that there are several biological, psychological and social factors that could contribute to gender differences in these disorders, even if the evidence is still incomplete with respect to some questions. It has become clear that these differences stem not only from social injustices, or from biological variation between male and female individuals (‘sex’), but also from socioculturally coined masculine and feminine stereotypes (‘gender’) which are not necessarily bound to the biological sex. The chapter aims to demonstrate that a gender perspective can provide valuable insights for better management of bodily distress syndromes – and of symptoms in general.