Making public the private: Possible effects of expressing somatic experience

Abstract

Most investigations of symptom reports explore their antecedents: the biological, psychological, and social factors which influence the verbal expression of a somatic state. In this article, symptom reports are explored for their possible consequences: the cognitive, behavioral, and social effects of having verbally expressed a somatic state. Several defining aspects of a verbal report are explored for their possible effects upon the reporting individual, and the implications of these effects for health research are discussed.