Somatosensory Amplification
Somatosensory amplification is the tendency to experience ordinary bodily sensations as unusually intense, alarming, or distressing, magnifying minor physical feelings into something that seems to demand urgent attention. It is thought to underlie somatisation and the somatoform disorders, offering one account of how emotional distress can come to be experienced, and expressed, primarily through the body.
Illustration
A generally healthy man becomes preoccupied with a faint, ordinary fluttering sensation in his chest that most people would never even notice, convinced it signals something seriously wrong, and finds himself unable to relax until each new medical test comes back clear, only for his attention to fix on a different sensation soon after.
Related phenomena
References
- Casey, P. & Kelly, B. (2019). Fish's Clinical Psychopathology, 4th ed. Appendix II, 'Defences and Distortions'.