Unexplained versus explained symptoms: The difference is not in patients' language use. A quantitative analysis of linguistic markers.

Objective: Patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are believed to have a deviant way of talking about complaints. This study systematically compared linguistic markers in symptom presentations of patients with MUS and medically explained symptoms (MES).

Methods: This content analysis (cross-sectional study) conceptualized relevant linguistic markers based on previous research about MUS communication.