Applying the Somatic Symptom Disorder Diagnosis to Individuals with Fibromyalgia: Strengths and Limitations

Amidst broad changes to the somatic disorder diagnoses, DSM-IV pain disorder was absorbed into DSM-5’s somatic symptom disorder (SSD) as a specifier. However, clinical research testing of its use for the chronic pain population has been limited and its utility remains inconclusive. Using the exemplar of fibromyalgia, this article evaluates the validity, reliability, clinical utility, and acceptability of the SSD pain specifier. The diagnosis appears to have moderate validity but low specificity for the fibromyalgia population. The pain specifier has neither undergone sufficient field testing nor been evaluated for use by medical providers, with available data suggesting low reliability. Further research is needed to establish clinical utility via assessment of differential treatment outcomes. Concerns about social, legal, and economic consequences of classifying pain patients with a mental health diagnosis are outstanding. The current SSD criteria should be used with caution among the fibromyalgia patient population until its application for chronic pain has been further researched.