“Psychosomatics” is a term that has recently been increasingly used in the media. This concept is also used by many doctors in cases where a person invents illnesses for himself. There are also a large number of different teachings based on the concept of the relationship between the human psyche and his physical condition. But can our emotions really have any impact on our health?
Psychosomatics in medicine is not a new direction, and according to scientists who are its adherents, a person is really capable of having a destructive effect on his body by accumulating and projecting negative experiences. In addition, some people are even capable, being in a certain mental state, of causing so-called conversion symptoms in their own body, the appearance of which cannot be substantiated by any physiological reasons. In other words, if you want to know what it is called when you invent diseases for yourself, the answer to this question will also be the word psychosomatics.
Psychosomatic disorders , as a result of which certain internal organs and systems are damaged, today constitute a large part of the “diseases of civilization.” You will be very surprised to learn how many ailments scientists include in this list.
It can be:
- cardiac ischemia;
- ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract;
- hypertonic disease;
- allergic reactions and bronchial asthma;
- diabetes;
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- cancer.
How can thoughts and emotions change how you feel according to psychosomatics?
Illnesses and thoughts in psychosomatics are connected and we have already found this out, but how does the disease process occur and what to do to prevent this? The human psyche is a complex mechanism, which is negatively affected, first of all, by stress. People can react to stress in different ways: some people tend to throw out negative energy, while others tend to accumulate it inside themselves. There are also situations when a person experiences emotions of fear, anger, guilt, but he does not have the opportunity to express them.
For example:
- You are in a situation where you are being unfairly reprimanded by your boss, but due to politeness, fear of dismissal, or some other reason, you do not dare to express your opinion. As a result, you have to keep negative emotions (anger and resentment) inside yourself, accumulate them and experience them again and again.
- You are terrified of flying on an airplane, but from time to time you are forced to do it. During the flight, you experience a constant feeling of fear. The instinct of self-preservation tells you that you should leave a dangerous place, but you cannot do this at the moment.
Such accumulated negative experiences can subsequently lead to pathological changes in internal organs. And in the case of an airplane, a person may experience temporary physical symptoms as a result of severe stress, such as heart pain, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, etc.
Don't run away into a heart attack
Karlovy Vary. A wonderful resort that brings together sufferers from all over the world. Three times a day, in any weather, health seekers go to sources of healing water, fill their containers and drink with concentration. Drinking is always accompanied by conversations about health. “The doctor told me to drink 200 grams. But this is very little! I always add at least the same amount.”
Another hot topic is the number of procedures prescribed. And the time allotted for each. This is not only discussed in sources - it is discussed all the time and everywhere. And not only in Karlovy Vary.
“I only have three procedures. I paid and took two more,” shares the lady, who constantly insists that she is tired, that she barely has time from one procedure to another, but otherwise why go to the resort. The young man is indignant at the massage therapist: “Half an hour for a massage! This is a disgrace!” An older patient supports him and immediately gives advice: “And you will pay. I paid and now they massage me for almost an hour.” The conversation is supported by a multi-kilogram lady: “According to the schedule, I have a bath for 20 minutes. But I agreed. Now I sit for forty minutes.” A day ago, a doctor was urgently called for this lady - her blood pressure had risen...
Note: in Chekhov’s time, people were much less aware of diseases. There was no such media, and most importantly, the Internet, which knows everything and even more about our and not our diseases. And such knowledge is fraught. Remember, Jerome Jerome has a story about how the hero, studying the symptoms of diseases, finds literally everything. Except... childbirth fever, because I am a man myself. In other translations of this story, instead of childbirth fever, it is “water in the kneecap.” But this does not change the essence.
There is even a term “third-year disease”: it is in the third year that medical students study the symptoms of diseases and constantly find them in themselves. Even those who are not susceptible to suggestion find it. But maybe all this does not deserve special research by scientists? And their conclusions about the increase in diseases among those who “go into illness” are exaggerated? The RG columnist talks about all this with Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Buziashvili.
Can you induce illness into yourself? Can. Because thoughts about a possible illness cause a reaction in the body - stress
Yuri Buziashvili:
Here you are about vacationers, concerned about the number and time of procedures performed. But it’s not just on vacation! Imagine patients who are alarmed because yesterday an IV was inserted at 1:02 p.m., and today at 1:20 p.m. Isn't this dangerous? Or who tried to fill an IV with a medicine that was beneficial to them to the last drop, carefully observing this. The stress of tracking and recording time is much more dangerous than an underfilled 5 ml (out of 200 ml) dropper.
Considering that a person exhibits such behavior not only about the IV or the time of its installation, but also about what is happening around his “unique and exclusive” figure, this is simply chronic stress. Anxiety, the desire to embrace the immensity, to be good for everyone, not to be in debt to anyone, to succeed, to keep up, to envy, to be angry - this is all a series of stresses that take away our health, revealing the weak points of the body and leading to the rejuvenation of diseases.
Yuri Buziashvili: To the question: “How do you live?” my favorite and best answer: “There is no time to get sick.” Photo: Alexander Korolkov/RG
The symptom of the disease, the disease itself, turns out to be desirable, necessary, and provides certain benefits in the current situation. Either a way out of difficult conditions, or an escape from an unsatisfactory reality. Hence the term “flight into illness,” “escape from reality into illness.” Ivan Pavlov believed that such painful conditions, which once helped the patient get out of a difficult situation, can be fixed as a conditioned reflex. A symptom or illness becomes conditionally pleasant, necessary, and beneficial to the patient. Once, a friend of mine, a large businessman over 60 years old, brought his wife and, coming into my office, said: “Do with her what you want, even cut her. But I won’t take her home like this.” Having figured it out, I realized that the reason was daily examinations, a suitcase of test results, not only a financial burden, but also the morally impossible daily observation of a loved one fixated on illnesses.
Were there no diseases as such?
Yuri Buziashvili:
Did not have. Another example on the same topic. Two handsome Siberian heroes came into my office. The husband and son of a woman who was undergoing abdominal surgery. Based on long-standing complaints, she was referred to us for examination and treatment. The very first results of the examination differed sharply from typical complaints of angina pectoris. I even disagreed with the attending physician, who claimed that there was no objective data about the disease. We performed a summary invasive study: the vessels turned out to be clean. I again talked in detail with the patient and realized that, having worked in the library and lived for many years next to her mother, suffering from coronary heart disease, she had studied this disease from the literature no worse than a qualified doctor.
To confirm the diagnosis of “neurosis,” I asked for a consultation from one of the best neurologists in the country, David Ruvimovich Shtulman. After the consultation, he confirmed my diagnosis. As I saw him off, I was filled with self-respect for the correct diagnosis. Imagine my surprise when he told me that this was not an isolated case, but a common situation where women imitate diseases, and sometimes even suffered heart attacks and strokes. Involving their husbands, and often the whole family, in their condition, they spend years being examined, treated and, being organically healthy, walk for years with a twisted body or with severe limitations in motor functions. The frightened eyes of a person who has no organic changes is already a pre-disease to which he, unfortunately, is doomed unless emergency measures are taken to treat the psychological changes that have arisen in the person.
Can you induce illness into yourself?
Yuri Buziashvili:
The thought of a possible disease necessarily causes an emotional reaction in the body - stress. During stress, hormones are released, including adrenaline. It also contributes to an increase in the number of heart contractions, the development of vascular spasm, and leads to a rapid increase in blood pressure, which affects the supply of oxygen to the heart. This mechanism is laid down by nature to put the human body into emergency mode. Therefore, chronic stress leads to disorders of cardiovascular activity and premature heart damage.
This is only one of the possible schemes of the negative impact of a possible (far-fetched) danger on the body. But, existing for a long time, it leads to the development of a chronic disease, to the exacerbation of existing ones. Conducted studies show the most frequent incidence and early death of people who are constantly looking for illness within themselves. The saying that “what you are chasing is approaching” well illustrates this state. It does not come immediately; it has its own roots and development environment.
Is expecting bad things worse than the worst?
Yuri Buziashvili:
Undoubtedly! The words of the sage are appropriate here: “Don’t regret what happened, don’t dream about what will happen, take care of what is.” After all, hope and expectation are the source of suffering. Someone may reasonably object: “What has been given to us in the world, friends, cannot be diminished or added to.” But this is for people with black and white thinking, which is inherent in almost everyone. Fate is an attempt to catch the non-existent. You can’t chase happiness - it’s always within you.
But not everyone is given the ability to be happy.
Yuri Buziashvili:
The word “be able” can raise many questions. What defines happiness? Of course, this is physical and mental health, the components of which are lightness of being (spiritual enlightenment), personal freedom and agreement of what is discordant in oneself, that is, harmony.
Always be calm, happy and cheerful?
Yuri Buziashvili:
Many people will view this recommendation with malice. But we are largely predictable and self-governing. You just need to cultivate these skills in yourself. After all, for athletes with heavy physical activity, psycho-emotional mood and preparation play a huge role. Real health care must necessarily project existing knowledge into a competent lifestyle and recreation.
I am convinced that the best assistant to a doctor is the patient. The optimism of both treatment participants is the key to recovery and recovery time. People who are suffering from the search for diseases in themselves must realize that they must overcome this fear and this must be done every day. With a calm heart and balance we open the path to happiness. And in a happy body there is a happy spirit, and vice versa. For, by worrying, fearing and suffering, we destroy peace of mind, without which it is impossible to remain healthy. Fear of defeat (illness) closes the path to success. “I can’t” is the path to failure. “I’ll try” is the road to success. And there is no miracle in this.
It is dangerous for people who are constantly thinking and afraid of diseases to involve their loved ones and others in their fears and problems. They are sometimes skilled at this. In the process of searching for a diagnosis and treatment, the whole family finds itself, which sometimes loses the objectivity of the assessment and does not see the realities. This is a very difficult process. It is impossible to solve such a problem without a skilled psychologist.
But what about the popular joke that today there are no healthy people - there are unexamined patients?
Yuri Buziashvili:
It is partly justified. By transferring medicine from the section of medical care to the section of medical services, increasingly paid, we lose the line beyond which it is very difficult to disavow medical dishonesty. On the one hand, doctors are equated with service personnel, having lost the charm of elitism in solving probably the most important health issues. On the other hand, sometimes and often they begin to behave like servants: not respecting, not appreciating and not sparing the subject of their service. And this is the tragedy of today. You can fall into it quickly. The journey back will take generations.
When we meet, when we call each other, the most common question is: “How are you living?” Most often, the response begins with a conversation about illnesses, health...
Yuri Buziashvili
: The best and favorite answer: “There is no time to get sick.”
Scientific foundations of psychosomatics
The scientific basis for psychosomatics was obtained during a sensational experiment by scientists from the University of Berkeley, who conducted an experiment with the participation of 15 thousand subjects with cancer. It turned out that each of these people constantly, over many years, experienced overwhelming emotions associated with resentment. Mentally, these people regularly returned to the situation and relived it in their minds.
Psychosomatics claims that the development of cancer can be provoked not only by resentment, but also, for example, by a feeling of fear caused by the fact that one of a person’s relatives or his friends died of cancer. As a result, a person invents diseases for himself and actually gets sick with them. But there is also a way back - treat others with respect, do good deeds and simply enjoy life, and you yourself will not notice how your health improves.
Mechanism of development of psychosomatic disorders
The mechanism of development of psychosomatic disorders was confirmed by Finnish scientists by conducting an experiment involving thousands of subjects. The purpose of this study was to find out whether there are psychological aspects that determine the occurrence of allergies in humans.
Here's how the experiment went:
- People of different genders, belonging to different age and social categories, were divided into several groups, according to the type of allergens to which their body reacted.
- Then each of the participants in the experiment was put into a state of hypnosis in turn and placed in a room where there were foods, animals or substances that provoke allergies. Surprisingly, in a state of altered consciousness, almost none of the subjects reacted to allergens.
- Then the experiment was repeated, having previously taken the people out of the state of hypnosis. So what then? Then the subjects again experienced the usual allergic reaction.
In addition to the psychological, this phenomenon also has a completely medical explanation. What is an allergy? This is a disease that occurs when the mechanisms regulating the immune response are disrupted. It is expressed in an atypical reaction of our body's immune system to certain substances.
But our immune system is closely related to the nervous system. In a stressful situation, for example, when a person finds out that he accidentally ate a product to which he should be allergic, the immune system, as well as the nervous system, experiences significant stress, which leads to its failure. The result is a non-standard immune response, expressed by the manifestation of typical allergic symptoms. A similar thing happens in the situation with other psychosomatic disorders.
The mechanism of their occurrence is simple:
- There is always some kind of traumatic factor.
- This factor triggers a neuropsychic reaction.
- As a result of this reaction, somatic disorders develop.
Why do people invent diseases for themselves?
Well, thank God, scientists have finally found the reason why someone has problems with respect for others, complicated by laziness, unhealthy indifference and reluctance to learn how to plan their day. It doesn’t matter that dyspraxia is a syndrome that indicates problems in a certain area of the brain (and, when occurring suddenly in an adult, often signals a serious illness), and the symptoms of dyspraxia have nothing to do with regular tardiness. It's written on the Internet!
Hard life with a psychopath
“Hide behind your diagnosis” is a game that doctors constantly observe in everyday life. A girl talks about her love failures with a man: he ignores her requests, does nothing around the house, forgets about her birthday. “A perverted narcissist, what can you do,” sighs the sufferer, having read psychological terms in search of the optimal strategy for saving her loved one. “No, he’s a manipulator! A real psychopath!” - her friends convince her, and she joyfully agrees, rushing with redoubled force towards his “cure”.
It is unbearable for the sufferer to accept the fact that he is just an idiot and the only correct strategy is to leave him. She continues “psychotherapy with the narcissist” until he himself throws her out of his life. And it’s surprising: for some reason, with the next passion, the vile manipulator becomes an extremely pleasant and caring man. Simply because she doesn’t care whether he’s a narcissist or not - she’s not afraid to lose him and reacts to any outburst with a request to go off into the sunset, and not with a sad song “let’s talk about your childhood.”
"I'm in the house"
Hiding behind a diagnosis is beneficial: it helps you not see your mistakes and, as it were, relieves you of responsibility for your own actions. Neurologists have stories about dozens of patients with back pain who consider themselves disabled for no objective reason and carefully protect themselves from any physical activity. The appearance of such patients is typical: weak muscles, excess weight, pain in the joints and lower back. Often there is also depression.
The only way to cope with the burden of negative experiences is food. There is zero desire to cooperate with the doctor. Because this will require searching for suitable physical activity and gradual nutritional correction. And it is possible that you will need to select antidepressants and work with a psychotherapist... And this is long and scary. Therefore, the belief “I am very sick, and nothing will help me, doctors in our country do not know how to treat” is their banner, which they mournfully carry with them all their lives, never having tried to find out what euphoria from their favorite sport and life are. without handfuls of painkillers. Manufacturers of miracle belts, magic devices and miracle drugs profit from this along the way.
Depressive selfies
Fictitious diagnoses become comfortable and suitable, like your favorite slippers. Medical terminology confuses many, and doctors who see the deceit are in no hurry to expose it, except sometimes to troll the “poor thing.”
“I’m depressed,” says the pretty girl. Every day she pleases her followers on social networks with dozens of selfies with different makeup, but always with a sad expression on her face, and happily harvests sympathetic attention. “I have problems with blood vessels,” says an elderly woman who is tired of sitting at a boring job until the evening and doing something other than gossiping with colleagues. A wonderful vague phrase about vessels guarantees understanding, if not of the boss, then certainly of some impressionable employees. “I have a tumor in my back,” says a young guy whose MRI accidentally found a tiny hemangioma in one of the vertebrae, and calmly cuts into tanks while his wife rocks the baby day and night.
Medical information, although very scattered and often incorrect, has become available to everyone - just enter the desired word into the search engine. Therefore, there are more and more people who like to play “Hide behind your diagnosis.”
This is probably the result of the fact that life makes us experience enormous stress. Not everyone can cope - some prefer to acquire convenient “crutches” in the form of a diagnosis, attributing all failures to it. The trouble is that these crutches hinder more than they help.
Types of psychosomatic disorders
Types of psychosomatic disorders , as well as the degree of trauma inflicted on the body during mental reactions to certain stress factors, can be different:
Women often experience mild psychosomatic disorders such as headaches, depression or even colds due to increased emotional stress. You can often hear the words from owners of similar symptoms: “I don’t know what to do - I invent illnesses for myself: as soon as I start worrying, the temperature immediately rises, my stomach hurts, or my whole body itches.”
Quite often, diseases are more pronounced and are accompanied by serious somatic symptoms. In such cases, the help of a psychologist alone cannot be done; medical intervention is required.
Temporary psychosomatic reactions also occur in certain situations. This is a state of panic attack, the symptoms of which were described in the example of the airplane. Also, for example, if there is a fear of visiting the dentist, the patient in the dentist's chair may experience severe pain, despite anesthesia.
Cases of mass psychosomatic phenomena have also been recorded more than once. For example, in 1939, in one of the schools in Louisiana, during dance lessons, a student suddenly developed cramps in her right leg; her condition subsequently worsened, which caused mass panic. As a result of collective hysteria, the girl’s friends and classmates also began to exhibit similar symptoms, which had no objective basis.
Psychosomatic illnesses as a consequence of our worldview
Psychosomatic illnesses , as well as the cause of many of our stresses and poor health, lie in our character. It is interesting that doctors even identify certain personality traits that are characteristic of allergy sufferers, ulcer sufferers, hypertensive patients, cancer patients, etc. Most often, these are people with high levels of anxiety and serious childhood traumas. Many of them are cynical towards others and tend to accumulate grievances.
All these facts suggest that perhaps by changing our attitude towards the world and ourselves, devoting more time to helping people in need, we can become kinder and cleaner and prevent many health problems in the future. Agree, for the sake of such a prospect it’s worth working a little on your character!
What is the danger?5
It would seem that what could be wrong is that young people feel the need for care and support from the older generation? Well, let it turn into love in some cases, what’s wrong with that? The answer to the question is simple. Every coin has another side, and love does not always flow calmly and consists only of finding an understanding person. In some cases, people show a love of violent acts against older people. It is the disease in this form that is most dangerous. And a calmly walking grandmother, who did not wish harm to anyone, may accidentally become the victim of a sick rapist, who, even if caught, will not be imprisoned, since she is declared insane. And the best he can get is treatment in a mental hospital. There are many known cases of violence against elderly women, who for the most part cannot fight back the attacker.
