Scientific and Clinical Models

Scientific and Clinical Models

SCIENTIFIC MODELS

This page is designed to enumerate and summarize major theoretical and clinical models related to clinical findings and disorders characterized by somatic symptoms in the context of no medical explanation.  The purpose of this page is to:

  • Distinguish between what is known to be true about a concept based on current best scientific evidence and what remains an empirical question

  • Distinguish between how a concept is conceived in the scientific domain and how it is conceived in the clinical domain (e.g., in the scientific domain there is lack of consensus about whether  "quality" of emotion (i.e., sad, happy, angry, shocked, surprised, disgusted, etc.) and how it relates to other attributes. However, in the clinical domain the quality of emotion is one of the most frequently recorded finding related to emotion.

    • Because SNOMED is a clinical terminology, the clinical perspective trumps the scientific 

CONSTRUCT SUMMARY

Use this section to summarize major differences in the way the concept (construct) is defined across healthcare disciplines, theoretical groups, and regions. Focus on implications of these differences for modeling the concept in SNOMED. 

Concepts relevant to the target concept to be used in claims matrix)

core concept:

  • sign or symptom of an illness 

  • no known medical etiology

concept

description

example

concept

description

example

specific symptom, illness

specific sign, symptom, or illness

seizure, limp, headache, stomach pain, high blood pressure, fever

phenomenological sensory experiences 

phenomenological sensory experiences

specific phenomenological  sensory experiences (tinging, burning, pain, anesthesia, etc.)

no claim about phenomenological  sensory experience (e.g., in belief that one is suffering from a terminal disease in absence of any symptoms)

no associated phenomenological  sensory experience(e.g., in factitious disorder)

thought content

thoughts, attitudes, beliefs related to any phenomenological sensory experience

thought that one has cancer (agnostic), belief that one has cancer, thought that the pain one is phenomenologically experiencing and believes is a sign of cancer is imaginary 

belief that one cannot move one's arm, desire to not be able to move one's arm 

thought process

thought process related to the sign, symptom, or illness

preoccupied thought, ruminative thought, normal thought process, though suppression

emotion associated with the symptom, illness 

emotional states related to the sign, symptom, or illness



fear that one has cancer, apathy about pain in leg

co-occurring medical condition

known medical conditions

e.g., belief that one cannot walk in context of a known injury to leg

etiology of symptom, illness

the claim the concept makes about the etiology of the sign, symptom, disorder

unknown (no claim), stress, traumatic re-enactment, anxiety, seeking attention, avoiding responsibility

person in whom symptom or illness resides

the person phenomenologically experiencing the specific sign, symptom or illness or in whom the specific sign, symptom or illness is being claimed to exist

self or other (factitious disorder imposed on another)

SCIENTIFIC MODELS

Short Description

References

Constructs and Relationships

Short Description

References

Constructs and Relationships

1







2







3







CLINICAL MODELS



Short Description

References

Constructs and Relationships



Short Description

References

Constructs and Relationships

1

Disorders of bodily distress or bodily experience

ICD11



2

Factitious disorder (ICD11 model)

ICD11



3

Hypochondriasis

ICD11



4

Somatic symptom disorder

DSM5



5

Factitious disorder (DSM5 model)

DSM5



PHENOMENOLOGY





Copyright © 2025, SNOMED International