title: [Disease at any price: psychological challenge and the financial costs of somatization].
abstract: In clinical medicine we sometimes deal with patients with unexplained somatic complaints. In a 45-year-old woman with multiple somatic complaints, 2 years of medical examinations in search of a disease diagnosis cost almost 250,000 shekels (about +84,000). The differential diagnosis between somatization, hypochondriasis and psychosomatic pain, and the reasons why physicians are tempted to participate in the "investigation dance" are presented.
authors.affiliation: Kupat Cholim Clalit, Machoz Dan -- Petah Tikva.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matalon
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*