Bizarre somatic complaints as a manifestation of schizophrenia

Three patients, men aged so and 32 and a woman aged 30 years, presented with bizarre somatic symptoms, i.e. that are anatomically and physiologically impossible. The first patient, for instance, thought that he could onlywalk while holding his forehead back with his hand; the woman thought that the skin of her neck and back was disconnected from the underlying tissues. The patients were preoccupied with their complaints and could not be convinced that there was no organic substrate for their symptoms. The presented patients had coenesthetic symptoms of schizophrenia: disturbances in the awareness of their bodily integrity. These symptoms occur frequently in patients with schizophrenia, but have not received much attention in medical literature. The patient's visit to a somatic or general physician is a good opportunity to refer him or her for adequate psychiatric treatment.