Abstract:

Current researches of pathological mechanism of somatization focus on psychosomatic interactions based on neural biology. In a psycho-physiological functional continuum, the presentation of somatic symptoms comes from the process of cognitive learning, attention, memory, sensations monitor and so on. Through those processes, culture can shape the individual’s attribution and interpretation of the symptoms, therefore can affect the presentation and expand of somatic symptoms, and finally form cultural specific hypochondria and medically unexplained symptoms through the ethno-physiology modes of different cultures.

Key words: somatization, culture, mental illness