How are women sicker than men? An overview of psychosomatic problems in women.

An overview is presented of psychosomatic problems in women - the epidemiology, physiology and psychology. Surveys of sickness rates in women and psychological studies are used as a basis of speculation about higher female morbidity rates. Theories of psychosomatic illness, the somatic concomitants of hysteria and alexithymia are reviewed as they pertain to observations of gender differences in disease phenomena. A clinical case is presented of thyrotoxicosis, one of the illnesses predominantly found in women.