title: [Left-sidedness and functional somatic symptoms].
abstract: Since Paul Briquet's Traité Clinique et Thérapeutique de l'Hystérie (1859), functional somatic symptoms, especially of "hysterical" nature, are said to be more frequent on the left side of the body. More recent studies seem to confirm this mostly unexplained phenomenon. Anthropology shows in numerous cultures the pejorative symbolism of the left. Neuropsychology suggests that the right cerebral hemisphere is more involved in emotions than the left hemisphere. These two levels of explanation must be considered together, when functional somatic symptoms are conceived as bodily metaphors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montréal Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cathébras
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005619:Freudian Theory; D006801:Humans; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology
vernacular_title: De la latéralisation a gauche des symptômes somatiques fonctionnels.