n. the expression of psychological disturbance in physical (bodily) symptoms. The first use of the word has controversially been attributed to Viennese psychoanalyst Wilhelm Stekel (1868–1940) to describe what is now called conversion. Some investigators use the word in reference not only to the physical symptoms that occur in almost every type of anxiety disorder but also to the expression of symptoms in such psychosomatic disorders as psychogenic asthma and peptic ulcers.