Symptoms are problematic emotional reactions, or the thoughts and behaviors that accompany them, that cause intense or prolonged discomfort in the person, or make their relationship with others difficult. The symptom may originate from a disturbing or socially dangerous feeling that has been associated with an initially neutral object, person or symbol. We could understand the symptoms as a kind of compromise between the loss of security or affection, which would entail seeing reality as it is, and the loss of adaptive efficacy that entails seeing reality as the social environment demands of us. who we depend on The result is that the person feels intensely bad in situations that should not make them feel that way, and begins to behave based on their discomfort and not on the reality that surrounds them; the symptoms would be logical reactions to apparently illogical perceptions. Thus, for example, a person may experience intense fear in situations that do not involve any real danger; or, feeling deeply guilty without having done anything wrong; or feel an uncontrollable desire for unnecessary or harmful substances or activities, or experience disproportionate anger at minor or non-existent aggressions. On other occasions, somatic symptoms may develop, such as headache or back pain, insomnia or digestive problems, without an organic cause to justify it. And in all cases, the person believes what he feels and acts accordingly: He flees from non-existent danger, tries to repair damage that has not occurred, responds aggressively to offenses that have not taken place, or feels and acts sick without being sick. A disorder is defined by a set of symptoms that usually occur together and that persist, or repeat, for a long time. When it does not meet all the diagnostic criteria it is called a syndrome.