Which disorder is characterized by excessive thoughts, feelings, and behavior that affect physical health?

The chosen answer highlights a disorder characterized by an enduring focus on physical symptoms, which may or may not be medically explained. Somatization disorder, also known as somatic symptom disorder in more recent classifications, involves a pattern of multiple, recurrent physical complaints that cannot be fully explained by a medical condition and lead to significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other areas of functioning.

Individuals with somatization disorder often experience excessive concern about their symptoms, which can include a diverse range of issues such as pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, or neurological symptoms. This excessive preoccupation with health concerns can lead to significant emotional distress and can result in seeking frequent medical treatments or interference with daily life.

In contrast, conversion disorder involves neurological symptoms that arise in response to psychological stressors, but lack a medical basis. Anxiety disorders do involve excessive thoughts and feelings, but they are primarily focused on anxiety and worry rather than unexplained physical symptoms. Imaginal disorder is not recognized as a standard disorder in psychological classifications, which focuses the attention back to somatization disorder as the correct choice for the question posed.