The human body is a system in which physiology and psyche are closely interconnected. Body pain always affects our mood, and, conversely, intense fear can trigger an attack of nausea or diarrhea. Knowing what psychosomatic diseases are, their causes and their treatment, you can significantly improve the quality of your life.
Doctors confirm that emotions can be the cause of somatic (bodily) ailments. And there is no mysticism in this. It is easy to see a chain of interrelated processes that lead from a psychological state to a disease in almost any example.
It is difficult to find exceptions to this rule: regardless of whether you are worried about a runny nose, pain in the stomach or a sore throat, psychosomatics can be detected in any case. And it is necessary to take care of your he alth, be sure to remember the role of a good psychological state.
What is psychosomatics?
The term "psychosomatics" is sometimes interpreted one-sidedly, when a direct relationship is built between emotion and disease. So, suppressed anger can be called the main cause of stomach diseases, envy -liver pathologies, and so on. In this regard, one gets the feeling that such an approach is unscientific, does not have any significant evidence, and therefore does not deserve attention.
In fact, psychosomatics exists and has long been proven. But the path of the body from emotion to illness is somewhat longer.
Body response to emotions
Every emotion causes a physical reaction in us: when we are angry, the muscles in our shoulder torso tense up. In order to supply tense muscles with blood, the heart begins to work faster, blood pressure rises. This entails changes in the depth and rhythm of breathing.
And if we feel fear, then our muscles also tense up, especially the legs. It is because of this that at the moment of fear we can feel the "waddling" of the legs - this is a consequence of muscle overstrain. The autonomic nervous system is activated, so a person may suddenly feel the desire to empty the bladder or intestines (the so-called "bear disease").
A one-time incident of anger or fear is not capable of causing a serious blow to a he althy body. But if a person experiences a negative emotion often, this causes his nervous system to rebuild, and the digestive, endocrine, and immune systems begin to work differently with it. As a result, negative experiences lead to illness.
How to recognize a psychosomatic illness?
In most cases, psychosomatics does not immediately lead to organic damage. First she becomesthe cause of functional disorders, that is, the organ or system is he althy, but their activity is impaired. It can be compared to an untuned piano.
If a person experiences certain symptoms of the disease, and the doctor cannot detect it through laboratory and functional diagnostics, or the form, stage of the disease cannot give such a vivid picture - there is every reason to suspect the psychological aspect in the formation of the disease.
Psychosomatics and sore throat
If a person regularly has a sore throat, psychosomatics will help to figure out what's wrong. The throat is a multifunctional part of our body, it is involved in the process of eating, in speech, in breathing.
Therefore, the pain can have a different character: a person can feel a pain when swallowing, a feeling that he is being choked, a lump in his throat. Based on these symptoms, you should look for the causes.
Pain when swallowing
A sore throat, like with a sore throat, can also be a sign of inflammation in the nasopharynx. And this will also be directly related to psychosomatics.
As mentioned above, the main role in the formation of diseases provoked by a psychological state is played by the nervous system. If we consider the entire human body as a whole, we can see that only three systems control all organs at the same time: nervous, endocrine and immune. Their activities are closely related to each other, pathology in one system will certainly affect the work of the other two.
If as a resultnervous experiences in a person, the activity of the immune system is disrupted, he can start to get sick in any case: the slightest draft, the way from the car to the entrance in wet shoes or a sip of milk from the refrigerator will instantly cause a sore throat.
People will advise a person to strengthen immunity, but this will bring minimal results: the nervous system will “pull” immunity back, and until a person learns to cope with his emotions, experiencing them correctly, colds will haunt him.
Throat lump
When a sore throat feels like a lump in the throat, the cause may lie in diseases of the endocrine system, or rather, in pathologies of the thyroid gland.
In other cases, the reason is that the human muscular system is so tense that the muscles literally squeeze the throat. In this case, the symptom will be closely interconnected with negative emotions: when nervous, a person will experience an “aggravation”, and when calmed down, “go into remission.”
Formulation of feeling
In order to understand whether there is a relationship between the disease and the psyche, it is very important to try to correctly formulate the sensations experienced. Sometimes this is where the clue lies.
For example, instead of saying “I have a sore throat”, you should express it differently: “I can’t get a piece in my throat”, “I was taken by the throat”, and so on.
Further, it remains only to imagine the sensations in the described situation. A piece in the throat does not climb in a situation of strong fear,therefore, a person should reflect to understand if he has chronic phobias, if anxiety accompanies him.
Feeling as if you are being held by the throat, talking about the limitations that interfere with a person. For example, if he does not do what he would like. If a person has to work as an economist, and he dreams of painting with watercolors. Blocking the creative process is not such a harmless thing as it might seem, it is quite capable of causing psychosomatic pathologies. Therefore, it is important to ask yourself questions as directly as possible and answer them with no less frankness.
Who should I contact?
If a person has a sore throat, psychosomatics can be the cause. But first of all, you need to contact a specialist in bodily ailments. In this case, to the otolaryngologist.
If the doctor confirms that the emotional aspect takes place in this case, then you need to contact a psychotherapist. It is important to note that it is he who deals with the treatment of psychosomatic diseases, and not a psychologist or psychiatrist.
A psychotherapist will help you find out what emotion has become a catalyst for the process, tell you how to cope with the disease. Sometimes this process takes only a couple of sessions, and sometimes a person needs to go to an appointment for months. In any case, a life without psychological illnesses and the resulting ailments is certainly worth it.
Is there any drug treatment?
For the treatment of psychosomatic disorders, as well as for somatic, drug therapy is divided into two parts:main and symptomatic.
Symptomatic therapy is necessary in order to relieve the pain itself. For this, any sprays, anti-inflammatory lozenges, folk remedies can be used. If a psychosomatic illness has led to disturbances in the functioning of the immune system, antibiotics, antiviral drugs may be required.
Basic therapy includes drugs that regulate the functioning of the nervous system. This includes sedatives, sleep aids, and even antidepressants. A psychotherapist, unlike a psychologist, has a higher medical education, so he will be able to distinguish situations in which medication is necessary from those when psychotherapy sessions can be dispensed with directly.
Psychosomatics in children
If there is psychosomatics in adults, therefore, it may well be in children. Fortunately, this happens much less often, because the child is less constrained by the framework of morality, which does not allow him to express emotions and makes him accumulate nervous tension.
If a child could not get a toy from his mother in the store, he will most likely burst into tears, thereby expressing all his indignation. This seemingly egregious behavior allowed the child to instantly minimize the risk of developing psychosomatics.
An adult cannot afford to cry because of the financial inability to buy, for example, a beautiful and expensive mobile phone. Moreover, upset, he will hardly go to throw out resentment on his acquaintances, so as not to lookundignified. And there is nothing surprising if, after a while, he finds that he has a sore throat - psychosomatics has found ways out of negativity through illness.
If the child is still faced with a bodily ailment caused by nervous experiences, this requires the most serious attitude. The flexible psyche of children should not succumb to such situations.
For treatment, you need to contact a good child psychotherapist who will teach the child to express and live negative emotions correctly, not hiding them inside himself, but not pouring them out on others. Stay he althy!
