Psychosomatic condition: concept, norm, cause of pathologies, methods of treatment and recommendations of doctors

It is believed that the causes of psychosomatic diseases are associated not only with the physical condition, but also with the psychological one. For the first time I noticed this fact and made my observation back in 1950 of the last century, the American psychotherapist F. Alexander. Decades passed, his thought received scientific justification. Today it is safe to say that psychosomatic conditions at the physical level manifest themselves as serious diseases.

How do psychosomatic disorders manifest themselves?

Depending on the accentuation of the character, the degree of vulnerability and sensitivity of a person, disorders can manifest themselves to a greater or lesser extent. There is no proven relationship between stress and serious illnesses. Although some oncologists claim that chronic stress can be the cause of the spread of metastases and the growth of neoplasms . Modern medicine recognizes that in most cases, the causes of psychosomatic diseases are mixed: they are the effects of stress, a suitable heredity, and an incorrect lifestyle.

Most often, the symptoms of such diseases are associated with the presence of pain and tachycardia, lack of air. At first glance, it may seem that a person has a pre-infarction condition or an asthma attack. In fact, this is a typical psychosomatic condition: a person suffocates, heart rate quickens. This is about states. There is also such a thing as psychosomatic health and illness.

It is officially proven that the following diseases in at least half the cases develop as a result of chronic stress, experienced grief (this can be violence, death of a loved one, divorce):

• essential hypertension;
• rheumatoid arthritis;
• deafness and blindness of a psychogenic nature;
• neurodermatitis;
• alcoholism;
• ulcerative colitis;
• asthma.

The exact relationship and the degree of influence of the experienced stresses on the appearance of malignant or benign neoplasms has not been established. It is possible that the consequences of mental experiences are much more detrimental to physical health than official medicine has proven to date.

The first signs and symptoms of problems

The first sign, after which you should be wary, is psychosomatic pain. Most often, after examination with the help of modern equipment it is not possible to recognize their cause, while because of them the patient’s condition is inexorably worsening.

Pain in a psychosomatic state is most often deployed:

• in the heart;
• under the shoulder blade;
• in the chest area;
• in the muscles of the limbs;
• in the lumbar spine;
• migraine (headache) with or without aura.

Often patients also complain of the following conditions (while standard diagnostic techniques using ultrasound, MRI, palpation do not report the presence of any serious pathologies):

• palpitations, shortness of breath;
• heaviness in the back, stitching pains in the lower back, which intensify after unrest or sleepless nights;
• heaviness in the limbs, numbness of all fingers or one or two;
• hot flashes, hyperhidrosis (increased sweating in one part of the body - most often these are armpits, feet or palms);
• nausea after eating even light food;
• suffocation, shortness of breath - symptoms in a psychosomatic condition often resemble asthma;
• disorders of the stool - diarrhea can begin suddenly before an important event, even if on the eve of a person was eating properly;
• asthenia and weakness are common conditions for psycho-emotional problems of any etiology;
• fatigue, and it’s difficult to fall asleep - insomnia often becomes a source of a real problem;
• dizziness after waking up, when trying to perform a particular physical action (turning the head, tilting the body, etc.);
• numbness of hands, feet, fingers often haunts the patient in the morning and at bedtime - for this reason sleep problems often appear (a person is scared to fall asleep, he is worried about his health and possible fatal outcome).

Psychological portrait of a person with disorders of a psychosomatic nature

Obviously, if stress was able to “break out” into the physical world, then it was very strong. The effect of stress on a strong personality is easily predictable: a person simply “shakes himself off” and goes on through life, not remembering what happened. it is very important that such an attitude to the problem be sincere. if a person only “pretended” that he had let go of the problem, but in fact she was eating it, that’s very bad. This is a direct path to the development of psychosomatic disorders. Only if a person truly, genuinely got rid of the traumatic factor, can we talk about the presence of a strong and healthy psyche. In such people, the chance of suffering from psychosomatic conditions is approaching zero.

You can make a psychological portrait of a person who is prone to the development of physical ailments due to experienced stresses and problems:

• Hypochondria is the main character trait, even if the person himself is trying to disguise it from himself. He is constantly passionate about reading literature or articles about health, about diseases, and is trying to correlate the information received with his own feelings and symptoms (which are almost always far-fetched and untrue).
• A person who is inclined to blame others for their troubles most often experiences stress more painfully than those people who try to find and correct their own mistakes.
• Vulnerability is most often inherent in such people since childhood. Resentment for school teachers, classmates, parents, they remain until old age. They remember every unpleasant word in their address for years. After such children become adults, vulnerability and painful resentment do not disappear, just a person begins to be ashamed of these “vices” and is now offended not out loud, but exclusively to himself, sometimes developing many hours of dialogue with a fictitious image of the offender.
• Psychiatrists in people prone to psychosomatic conditions often report some schizoid. This is isolation, unwillingness to maintain any social ties with people. Shizoids from the outside can give the impression of closed introverted people, although in fact they are often not schizoids in the medical sense of the word. Just because of the previously received grievances, they locked themselves in their sink and do not make contact with other people.

Causes and factors that influence the onset of the disorder

Symptoms of psychosomatic disorders never appear just like that. In most cases, these are consequences of the following events:

• death of a loved one, possibly a friend, relative, spouse;
• problematic, conflicting relationships with an important person (spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, own child, colleague or boss - in the hierarchical system of relations with others, any figure can be super-important);
• divorce or separation from a loved one;
• diseases of close relatives;
• the fact of violence, both sexual and psychological in nature, a brawl with bodily injuries, a compulsion to endure the physical manifestation of aggression - all this once does not go away just like that for the human psyche;
• dismissal from a previous place of work and search for a new one;
• for a child, the transition to a new school or even kindergarten is a serious psychoemotional trauma, which often causes ailments.

How to understand that the cause of the disease lies precisely at the level of the subconscious and the psyche?

The above is a list of the most common symptoms and signs of a psychosomatic disorder. At first it’s just an unclear pain. Over time, it becomes so pronounced that it begins to significantly complicate the life of the patient. He begins to visit doctors, orders consultations with large luminaries. But the idea of ​​turning to a specialist in psychosomatic medicine has not yet crossed his mind. As a result, numerous examinations do not reveal any diagnosis: formally, the person is healthy. At most, he can be diagnosed with a vague diagnosis - for example, "vegetovascular dystonia".

This condition does not pose a threat to health. But to the owner it causes a lot of unpleasant moments and significantly complicates the existence. Efficiency, vitality decreases. The psychosomatic state affects the child the hardest: if adults are used to somehow cope with apathy and other "charms" of such conditions, then the children are not yet prepared for such problems with well-being. Parents should take the child to a psychotherapist and ask about the peculiarities of psychosomatic medicine if the child has become vulnerable, withdrawn, complains of spontaneous pains and other ailments, which are listed in the list above.

If, after the examinations, a clear diagnosis has not been made, it is likely that the cause of health problems is the psychosomatic state of a person. In order to verify the accuracy of your suspicions, you need to contact a therapist.

How to deal with stress so that it does not lead to the development of a psychosomatic state

The easiest way to avoid future psychosomatic health problems is to deal with stress as quickly as possible from the moment it occurs. Psychotherapists admit that this is the only possible way to get out of a psychosomatic state and even simply prevent its occurrence.

1. If possible, openly discuss the conflict with the person who causes rejection. If stress is provoked by a conflict with a spouse or loved one, then this is not a reason to restrain yourself. You need to find out the relationship and close the gestalt as soon as possible.
2. If a person is inherent in vulnerability, closeness, a certain schizoid nature or a dependent type of behavior, independent work on the character should be carried out. If the features do not smooth out and life does not become easier, you should make an appointment with a psychotherapist for a consultation.
3. If the parents noticed disturbing symptoms of stress and victim behavior in their child, then you should make an appointment to consult a good children's psychotherapist. For starters - you can even just go to a psychologist. Alas, in this category there are few good specialists and it is easy to inflict even greater harm to the fragile psyche of children.
4. The normal psychosomatic state of a person is peace and the absence of explicit or hidden experiences. The more a person is victimized, vulnerable, and prone to addictions (dependencies), the more likely he is to become the owner of a somatic disease after some time, the fault of which is the inability to cope with chronic stress.

Psychosomatic diseases in children and adolescents

Psychosomatic therapy in children and adolescents is complicated by the fact that they are rather reluctant to let an adult into their inner world. The therapist can learn for a long time what exactly, which traumatic factor caused the development of a physical disease. In some cases, this may be:

• divorce of parents;
• illness or death of a loved one;
• poor school relationships with classmates or teachers;
• unhappy love;
• school failure;
• transfer from the previous place of study.

In order to successfully get rid of stress and prevent the development of psychosomatic diseases in a child or adolescent, it is not enough to understand the cause of his neurosis. It is also necessary to ensure a sufficient level of trust of the child in his person. Otherwise, he simply refuses to discuss anything with the therapist. Sometimes it may take several months of therapy only to establish contact of the child with the therapist. Alas, consultations of a good specialist are expensive - not every family is able to pay for such a long-term therapy. Therefore, it is very important that the parents have a relationship and spiritual contact with their own child. This will help to solve many problems and avoid the "teenage riot" in the future.

What therapy is effective in case of diseases of a psychosomatic nature?

What areas of psychotherapy will come to the rescue in case there are problems with the psychosomatic state?

1. Behavioral therapy is based on the theory that learned behavior as a reaction to past experiences can be forgotten or reformulated without focusing on interpreting unusual behavior. It will help develop the right response to stress. People with obsessive and compulsive disorders, fears, phobias and addictions can succeed through this type of therapy. The emphasis is on the client achieving his goals and changing his behavioral responses to problems such as stress or anxiety.
2. In the context of short-term therapy, various methods of psychotherapy are used. It differs from other therapeutic approaches in that it focuses on a specific problem and involves the direct intervention of a therapist working with a client in an accelerated mode. The emphasis is on accurate observation, using the client’s natural data, encouraging the temporary inclusion of faith in the unbelievable, to make it possible to consider new perspectives and different points of view.
3. Gestalt therapy will help to reconsider the attitude towards past stresses and conflicts. after a person has deeply and sincerely worked out the situations that caused the psychosomatic state, there is a possibility of a significant relief of the state. It may take a lot of time to find a really good, conscientious therapist.

Physical education in the fight for psycho-emotional relaxation

In addition to psychotherapy, there is another completely free and very effective method to get rid of accumulated stress. This is physical education. At first glance, it might seem that playing sports does not affect the degree of psychological stress.

In fact, after half an hour of intense physical activity, a lot of hormones are released that help a person cope with stress. Endorphins and serotonin will help to survive a stressful situation even if it seems to the patient himself hopeless. In order to feel a relatively noticeable release of endorphins, you should maintain a heart rate of about 100-120 beats per minute for at least half an hour, optimally 50 minutes.

If the patient is in a state close to depressive and cannot force himself to go in for sports for at least some lengthy time, then only psychotherapy or conversations with a psychologist remain from the means of influence. If depression is really diagnosed, it remains only to take special prescription drugs - antidepressants and antipsychotics. Against the background of such therapy, the patient's condition will even out, after which we can already talk about sports.

Doctors' advice: how not to start your psychological state and not allow it to develop into a disease

In order for pains of a psychosomatic nature to not let you know about yourself, you should take care of your psychological state of health. To do this, it is enough to follow simple tips from psychologists:

1. If there is a conflict or misunderstanding (no matter with whom - the boss, colleague, spouse, child, relative), you must certainly talk about the problem out loud. The longer and the deeper into the depths of one’s soul a person crams his grudge, the greater health problems it will come across in the future. A simple rule of psychotherapy: if you want to solve a problem, talk about it out loud.
2. If you can regularly relax from work, you should take this opportunity. According to psychologists, about forty percent of psychosomatic disorders are associated with burnout and overwork. The modern rhythm of life makes people earn money by spitting on their own health and psychological comfort. The body and psyche do not forgive such a careless attitude to themselves.
3. If the relationship with the spouse has ceased to bring satisfaction and serve as a source of neurosis, then it is better to interrupt them and live separately for some time.The longer a person rapes himself, pretending that everything is good in the family, the more likely that the symptoms of a psychosomatic disorder will begin to appear over time. This rule can be attributed to all relations: whether it is communication with friends, relatives, etc. If it has reached a dead end, then you should interrupt it without regret.