The spectrum of somatic and psychological distress: a novel cross-disciplinary analysis of medical and non-medical students in the academic landscape

Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) is a mental health condition characterized by an excessive focus on physical symptoms that causes significant distress and impairs functioning. University students frequently experience SSD, which can undermine academic performance and well-being. We compared the screening-based prevalence of probable SSD and somatic symptom burden between medical and non-medical university students. In this cross-sectional study, 581 students (284 medical/allied-health, 297 non-medical) were recruited from Mashhad universities. Validated self-report instruments, the Somatic Symptom Scale-8 (SSS-8) and the Somatic Symptom Disorder–B Criteria Scale (SSD-12), assessed somatic symptom burden and related cognitive-affective distress. The SSD-12 criterion identified a significantly higher proportion of non-medical students meeting the SSD-12 threshold (29.6%) than of medical/allied health students (17.8%; p = 0.008). In contrast, SSS-8 criteria yielded a lower somatic symptom burden overall (non-significant difference: 7.4% vs. 4.3%, p = 0.30). Non-medical students had higher mean SSD-12 total scores (11.23 ± 6.30) than medical/allied students (9.56 ± 7.73, p < 0.001). This difference was reflected across all SSD-12 subscales (p < 0.001 each). Among medical/allied students, those in clinical training scored higher on both SSS-8 and SSD-12 than pre-clinical students (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in scores by gender or marital status in either group. Non-medical students showed a higher screening-based prevalence of probable SSD and somatic symptom burden than their medical/allied-health peers, suggesting greater health-related anxiety and maladaptive symptom focus. University health services should consider targeted mental health interventions addressing health anxiety and illness behaviors, especially for non-medical students. Early screening in vulnerable groups may prevent the development of chronic symptoms.