Increasingly, young people talk about their he alth with the phrase: "This is psychosomatics." The word has become so popular that it is used both in and out of place. Therefore, it is worth considering in more detail the concept under which some he alth problems are hidden. So, psychosomatics - what is it?
In a very simple language, this is a direction in medicine that studies the relationship between the psychological state of a person and diseases of the body. The simplest example of psychosomatics can be given by teachers. Usually once or twice a month, school he alth workers examine children for lice during the lesson. The appearance in the doctor's class for some leads to the fact that a person feels an itch in the head until the evening. However, this is not the only example. There are imaginary pregnancies, psychological conditions can be caused by allergies, asthma attacks, chronic fatigue syndrome, panic attacks.
The history of psychosomatics began in Ancient Greece. It was there that for the first time arose the doctrine that all bodily diseases are associated withstate of mind. Later, F. Alexander, O. English, Z. Freud worked on the question "psychosomatics - what is it". In 1950, the first society specializing in the study of psychosomatic problems was created in the United States. Unfortunately, not all Russian doctors are well versed in the issue. Sometimes stress-related illnesses are confused with outright simulation or fraud. This is understandable: psychosomatics, the causes of which lie not in the symptoms, but in the unconscious mind, are very difficult to diagnose. That is why it is very difficult to give a complete and comprehensive answer to the question: "Psychosomatics - what is it?" Nevertheless, experts have established the reasons due to which a person can inspire himself with the symptoms of a particular disease.
Causes of psychosomatic illnesses
- Self-punishment. Sometimes a person who feels guilty, on a subconscious level, seeks to punish himself, because it is easier to deal with guilt (although in most cases it is contrived). There is a case when a woman who does not recognize such a concept began a severe asthma attack as soon as she remembered the abortion she had in her youth. Usually a good psychotherapist helps such patients.
- Suggestion. The most popular reason. Sometimes people are able to automatically accept thoughts about the disease, and then adjust the symptoms to fit them. This happens most often under the influence of the authority of the media or television.
- Body language. Sometimes the body reflects the negative state of a person, which can, for example, be characterized by the phrase "Solid headache" or hersimilar. The point is that certain negative emotions can cause pain in certain organs.
- In an effort to answer the question: "Psychosomatics - what is it?" - doctors have established the following: sometimes it is a reaction to an internal conflict. It happens that one hypostasis of a person wants, for example, to accomplish a feat, and another, fearing the risk and unpredictable consequences, stops it, provoking unconscious illnesses.
- Contingent benefit. Do you remember the saying that one should not attribute illness to oneself? This is true. Our psyche is arranged in such a way that a invented illness for gain (for example, a sick leave or benefits) provokes the occurrence of a real illness. A person cannot refuse the imaginary situation and starts to get sick.
- Identification or past experience, when a person associates himself with a specific patient or a situation in which he found himself with one that previously led to illness. In any case, diseases of this kind therapists and narrow specialists should treat together with psychotherapists.
