This is a checklist of 55 physical symptoms that are mentioned
in the DSM-III classification (16). The symptoms cover most
organ systems. There are 11 general/neurological items, 10 autonomic
items, eight musculoskeletal/pain items, 13 gastrointestinal
items, five genital items, and four items about feeling hot/
cold. The presence of symptoms is rated on a severity scale from
0–3. We excluded the gender-specific items (n  4) from the
analyses to rule out bias by gender. The total symptom score
ranges from 0–153. A higher score indicates more (severe) physical
symptoms in the preceding week