Ludot-Gregoire, Maude <br/><br/>
Subjective experience of somatic symptom and related disorders in adolescence: What mystery does medicine face? 

 -  2025.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> Bodily expressions of psychological distress are among the most common reasons for adolescent medical consultations. International literature highlights ongoing difficulties in naming these disorders, which are nonetheless defined in the DSM-5 as “Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders” (SSRD), illustrating the persistent mystery they represent for medicine. This article aims to shed light on the explanatory perspectives offered by adolescents themselves. À qualitative, non-interventional exploratory study was conducted at the Maison des Adolescents of Cochin Hospital, involving youth aged 11 to 24 diagnosed with SSRD. Semi-structured interviews were carried out using a purposive sampling method until data saturation was reached. Analysis of thirty adolescent narratives revealed three meta-themes, with a focus here on the etiological hypotheses formulated by the participants. These hypotheses revolve around a quest for meaning and the notion of visibility through the body, expressed in what adolescents choose to show of their symptoms, what cannot be seen by others, and what remains unseen by medicine. These findings lead to a dual discussion: first, on the sociocultural theories mobilized to make sense of the nonsensical, and second, on the transparency of the adolescent body – between personal secrecy and blind spots in medical knowledge – thus questioning the epistemological foundations of medicine itself. This qualitative approach restores the centrality of the subject in all its complexity and resonates, in the case of SSRD, with the practice of liaison child psychiatry. The issue of bodily visibility sometimes transcends the question of migrant children and challenges the boundaries of medicine.