Psychosomatic diseases causes and treatment. Psychosomatics

Our body reflects everything that we carefully hide even from ourselves. But sooner or later the accumulated problems make themselves felt and manifest themselves in the form of certain diseases. “The brain cries, and the tears go to the heart, liver, stomach...”— wrote the famous Russian scientist, doctor and psychologist Alexander Luria. This is how hypertension, peptic ulcers, ischemic and many others develop. Sigmund Freud wrote: “If we push a problem out the door, it comes out the window as a symptom.”. Psychosomatics is based on a psychological defense mechanism called repression, which means that we try not to think about troubles, brush aside problems, not analyze them, not face them. Problems repressed in this way move from the level at which they arose, i.e. from social (interpersonal relationships) or psychological (unfulfilled desires and aspirations, suppressed emotions, internal conflicts), to the level of the physical body.

Psychosomatic disorders(from Greek psyche - soul and soma - body)— dysfunctions of internal organs and systems, the emergence and development of which are most associated with neuropsychic factors, the experience of acute or chronic psychological trauma, and specific characteristics of the individual’s emotional response. The idea of ​​a close relationship between a person’s well-being and his mental, especially emotional, state is one of the most important in modern medicine and medical psychology. Changes in psychosomatic regulation underlie the occurrence of psychosomatic diseases, or psychosomatosis. In general, the mechanism of occurrence of psychosomatosis can be presented as follows: a mental stress factor causes affective tension, activating the neuroendocrine and autonomic nervous systems with subsequent changes in the vascular system and internal organs. Initially, these changes are functional in nature, but with prolonged and frequent repetition they can become organic and irreversible. Psychosomatoses and underlying psychosomatic disorders can be divided into three groups:

1. Organic psychosomatic diseases (hypertension and peptic ulcers, bronchial asthma, etc.), in the development of which psychogenic components play a leading role;
2. Psychosomatic functional disorders, autonomic neuroses;
3. Psychosomatic disorders associated with peculiarities of emotional and personal response and behavior (proneness to injury, alcoholism, etc.).

The study of psychological mechanisms and factors in the occurrence and course of diseases, the search for connections between the nature of the mental stress factor and damage to certain organs and systems underlie the psychosomatic direction in medicine.

The main psychosomatic disorders (diseases) identified at the present stage of development of medicine:

1. Bronchial asthma;
2. Essential hypertension;
3. Gastrointestinal diseases;
4. Ulcerative colitis;
5. Rheumatoid arthritis;
6. Neurodermatitis;
7. Heart attack;
8. Diabetes;
9. Sexual disorders;
10. Oncological diseases.

For the sake of historical justice, it should be noted that back in 1950, the famous American psychoanalyst Franz Alexander (1891-1964) gave a list of seven classic psychosomatic diseases:

• essential hypertension,
• peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum,
• rheumatoid arthritis,
• hyperthyroidism (thyrotoxicosis),
• bronchial asthma,
• ulcerative colitis,
• neurodermatitis.

This list is constantly being updated; a huge amount of research has been carried out, but the unconditional belonging of these seven to psychosomatics is considered proven. Three national schools made the greatest contribution to the development of problems of psychosomatic medicine:

• American (F. Alexander, H.F. Dunbar, I. Weis and G. Engel), developing the theoretical foundations of psychosomatics based on psychoanalytic concepts;
• The German school (W.von Krehl, von Weizsacker, von Bergman), which gives preference to the development of the philosophical foundations of psychosomatics;
• A domestic school in which the basis for the study of psychosomatic disorders is the teaching of I.P. Pavlova on higher nervous activity.

Since the beginning of the 20th century I.P. Pavlov, in a number of his works, showed the importance of the central nervous system in the regulation of somatic functions. This problem was further developed by student I.P. Pavlova P.K. Anokhin. He created a theory of functional systems of the body, which made it possible to evaluate the role of emotions and motivations in the development of somatic diseases from a new perspective. Let us give a number of examples of the development of psychosomatic reactions and diseases.

We call any painful manifestations psychosomatic only if we manage to establish a direct dependence of the occurrence of these symptoms on the corresponding psycho-emotional factors, some specific events. And, of course, there is no need to look for the psychological origins of every cold or headache - there are many diseases that have completely natural causes. If in the spring, in response to the flowering of plants, a person begins to develop hay fever, we cannot talk about psychosomatics. But it happens that a person begins to sneeze painfully as soon as he crosses the threshold of the office of one of the directors of the company where he works. His leader is a difficult, bilious person with whom our hero did not have a good relationship. And he is literally allergic to the director. All this is reminiscent of the situation with a diligent schoolboy whose temperature suddenly rises just before the test. An obedient child cannot simply skip class, admit that he did not learn the lesson and get a D on the test. He needs an alibi - a real, compelling reason on which he can legally skip a test. By the way, if parents leave such a child at home because of a runny nose, then, as an adult, he will most likely come down with the flu on the eve of an important meeting. My son, when he doesn’t want to go to school, starts coughing and sniffling intensely in the morning. But, already knowing the peculiarities of his character, I calmly say, now let’s drink a bitter mixture and the cough will go away. All these are examples of the development of psychosomatic mechanisms. In psychology, there is even such a concept - secondary benefit of a symptom - when a disease that is unpleasant in itself turns out to be necessary and useful for something: for example, it allows you to attract attention to yourself, arouse the pity of others, or avoid troubles.

There are other mechanisms for the development of psychosomatic disorders. Our distant ancestors reacted to all external stimuli with action: prey appeared - catch up, an enemy attacked - defend yourself, danger threatens - run away. The tension was relieved immediately - with the help of the muscular system of the body. And today, any stress leads to the release of an action hormone - adrenaline. But we are bound by a huge number of social prohibitions, so negative emotions and irritation are driven inside. As a result, nervous tics may appear: twitching of the facial muscles, involuntary clenching and unclenching of the fingers, trembling of the legs.

During an important meeting, a manager receives unpleasant news over the phone, one might say a danger signal. He wants to immediately start acting, get up, move somewhere. But this is impossible - the negotiations continue, and those around them notice that the boss’s leg involuntarily begins to twitch, literally shaking. This is how emotions, originally designed to mobilize for defense, are now more often suppressed, embedded in a social context and can cause destructive processes in the body.

It has been noticed that such psychosomatic disorders are more typical for hired employees. This is explained by the fact that the owner of the company can afford to throw out his emotions on others - raise his voice, say unpleasant things, even stomp his feet, and his deputies, naturally, are forced to maintain subordination, and therefore to restrain themselves.

Another example. A young ambitious leader does not tolerate talking with his boss in a raised voice, shouting, or using profanity. After such conversations, he feels completely sick and defeated. His internal protest, indignation, suppressed anger, aggression that finds no outlet lead to a serious psychosomatic disorder: despite his youth, he suffers from hypertension.

In general, the range of psychosomatic disorders is wide and includes:

• Psychosomatic reactions are short-term changes in various body systems (increased blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, redness, paleness, etc.;
• Functional neuroses of organs (without objective signs of damage to these organs), somatoform disorders (constant complaints of pain and discomfort, functional disorders observed in several organs, in the absence of objective signs of their damage, a clear relationship between the patient’s complaints and psychological factors);
• Conversion disorders (with clear and symbolic manifestations of patients’ personal characteristics and the influence of traumatic factors);
• And, actually, psychosomatic diseases.

What causes psychosomatic reactions and psychosomatic disorders? In common parlance, the occurrence of psychosomatic disorders is directly related to the suppression of one’s emotions and desires, i.e. they need to be expressed, but even here you can go to extremes if it concerns unacceptable or aggressive desires. How to connect all this and learn to control yourself - that’s what psychotherapy and psychoanalysis exist for. It is known that every emotion is accompanied by certain changes in the physiology of the body. For example, fear is accompanied by a slowing or increased heart rate. That is, if stressful situations and negative experiences drag on for a long time, then physiological changes in the body also become stable. Holding emotions inside oneself plays a big role in the occurrence of psychosomatic disorders. This contributes to tension in the muscles and disruption of the free, natural flow of physiological processes. Let's give this example: a person experiences a certain emotion, for example, a child is angry with his mother for not satisfying some of his requests or whims, and if he expresses this anger in crying, screaming, or other actions, nothing bad happens to his body .

Let us pay special attention to the development of psychosomatic reactions in children and the role of the family in the emergence of these pathological phenomena. If it is not customary in a family to express one’s anger openly, it is broadcast directly or indirectly: “You can’t be angry with mom!”- What should a child do with his anger? All he can do is take his anger out on someone weaker and dependent on him ( "Don't torture the cat!", "Don't take your brother's toys!") or turn this anger on yourself - and here there is a high probability of a psychosomatic disorder. If a child is systematically prohibited from expressing his joy ( "Don't make noise, you'll wake up grandma", "Don't jump, behave yourself, I'm ashamed of you"), then this is as harmful to him as a ban on expressing anger or fear.

A factor such as hereditary weakness of one or another body system - respiratory, cardiovascular, etc. also plays a role. For example, if a child has stomach problems, then diseases associated with digestion arise - anger directed at oneself “corrodes” him from the inside. If a child has problems with the respiratory system, then the “atmosphere of his own anger” into which he finds himself contributes to the occurrence of various colds, sinusitis, bronchitis, etc.

Of course, illness does not arise after one or two situations of restraining one’s feelings. But if this happens constantly, destructive energy is periodically directed to the same area of ​​the body, muscle tension occurs, and then changes at the level of the cells of the selected organ.

Also, the development of psychosomatic disorders is influenced by factors such as the personal characteristics of children, for example, increased anxiety, emotional instability, etc.

Psychosocial factors include pathological types of upbringing - upbringing according to the “family idol” type, excessive care or, conversely, emotional rejection, when the child is perceived by the parents as unsuccessful and not independent. The development of psychosomatic disorders is influenced by hereditary and congenital insufficiency of the central nervous system, trauma, surgery, and severe somatic diseases.

Of course, not all diseases have a psychological cause. If the disease affects the organic basis and objective changes have occurred in tissues and organs, drug treatment is necessary. If the impetus for the development of the disease was unfavorable situations or stress, then a combination of psychotherapeutic influence with drug treatment is necessary.

The above also determines the corresponding recommendations for parents: they should remember that emotional support and the opportunity to freely express their emotions are very important for children. There are no “harmful” and “useful” emotions - every emotion arises as a child’s reaction to an external (or internal) situation. The task of adults in this situation is to teach the child to express his feelings in an adequate, acceptable form.

Let us illustrate the principles of psychosomatic medicine using the following examples. For example, the expression "he broke his arm" , even the “father of psychosomatic medicine”, the outstanding German doctor Georg Walter Groddeck (1866-1934), noticed that the expressions to break one’s arm or break one’s head sound at least strange. How can you say that a person broke his arm if he did nothing to cause any harm to himself? He even tried his best to avoid trouble. However, in Russia and Germany, Italy and France, England and the USA they say: he broke his arm or leg. He hit himself, slipped, hurt himself, got burned, and got infected. We say: catch the disease. The Italians say pigliare una malattia. In English, catch a flu to catch a flu, in French attraper la grippe. Different languages ​​use the same word - grab. Please note that the medicine is taken as a guest or visitor is received (perhaps without much desire), but the disease is grabbed. It was as if the patient not only got sick intentionally, but was in a hurry and was waiting for the right opportunity. He was lucky, an opportunity presented itself, he did not miss it and fell ill. If the sick person is not just a victim, but an active actor, if he himself did something that led him to the disease, there must be some purpose hidden in his actions (perhaps unknown to himself), and the disease must have some kind of purpose. hidden purpose. It is usually taken for granted that illness has causes, but there is no purpose. If the meaning is in illness? A man walks down the street. An ice icicle falling from the roof falls on him and injures him. We say: an accident. It’s just a chance that it may happen, or it may not happen. To search for its reasons is to waste time. No luck and that's it. It's nothing you can do. It seems to be the same with infectious diseases. Someone sneezed on the bus and spread the flu to other passengers. If he had stayed at home, they would not have been harmed. They would feel fine. Flu is caused by a virus. If a virus infects the body, even a person who does not suspect the existence of microorganisms that prevent people from living peacefully in the world will get sick. No one, however, knows what role bacteria play in the occurrence of the disease and what role the body is in a state of crisis and no longer “wants” to resist the influence of the external environment. Those who have suffered mental shock become infected faster than others. When a person frees himself from negative emotions and anxiety, his immune system begins to work in full force. Bernt Hoffmann gives such an example in his “Textbook of Autogenic Training”. According to statistics in Germany, people most often get sick with the flu in November and December. However, postmen do not get sick at this time. They have their own special time for epidemics: in February. You might think that the disease is not caused by viruses, but by reasons related to professional characteristics. This strange phenomenon is explained by the fact that during the New Year and Christmas holidays, the postman is expected in every home. Everywhere he is a welcome guest. In December, the postman feels that society needs him. He is not only irreplaceable, he brings joy to everyone and therefore makes himself happy. The outstanding German psychiatrist Victor von Weizsäcker (1886-1957) believed that there is a pattern in the onset of the disease. It does not develop at any moment, but precisely when a crisis occurs: moral, mental, spiritual. Does this mean that the disease is a consequence of mental processes? Weizsäcker was against such a formulation of the question. He refused to accept the idea that tonsillitis, ulcers, tuberculosis, nephritis, hepatitis or leukemia arise due to mental causes. In rigid causal relationships there is a fatal inevitability that cannot be escaped. The laws and principles of classical mechanics are not entirely appropriate in human science. They are too narrow for her. The physical is in fact inseparable from the mental. Sometimes the body expresses the physiological processes occurring in it in the language of feelings: fear, despair, sadness, joy. Sometimes mental processes make themselves felt in the “language of the organs”: a person blushes, trembles, his legs are paralyzed, his eyes go blind, his back hurts, or a rash appears on his face. There is no causal connection between what happened first and what followed. Both are different manifestations of the internal state. The Purpose of Illness Dieter Beck wrote a book with the strange title “Illness as Self-Healing.” Beck argued that physical illnesses often represent attempts to heal mental wounds, make up for mental losses, and resolve conflicts hidden in the unconscious. Illness is not a dead end, but a search for a way out of a difficult situation, a creative process in which a person, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, tries to cope with the adversity that has befallen him. According to Beck, doctors, believing in the omnipotence of medicine, often act blindly and uncritically, imposing on the patient treatment that harms him rather than helps him. But patients still go to the doctor, although they do not believe in the success of the treatment. Apparently, their visits to medical institutions have some other purpose. Regular visits to the doctor, like taking pills, turn into a ritual that protects not from the disease for which they are resorted to, but from melancholy, boredom, and depression. Doctors involved in the treatment of obesity have noticed that when treatment seems to be successful and the patient loses extra pounds, serious changes occur in his character and behavior. Sometimes obsessive visions, states of depression, urges to commit suicide, delusions, and homosexual tendencies appear. Before treatment there was none of this. The famous American expert on the psychosomatics of obesity, Hilde Bruch, wrote that a thin schizophrenic lies dormant in every fat person. Obesity plays an important positive role. It relieves stress, protects a person from all kinds of disorders and stabilizes his mental activity. When a person loses fat, which seemed to bring him a lot of grief, it doesn’t make him any happier. On the contrary, there are often more reasons for sadness. In the myths of many peoples there is a monster that demands sacrifice for itself from the inhabitants of the city. In the human imagination, fear is closely related to the concept of sacrifice. To get rid of anxiety, you need to sacrifice something very important. But what could be more important for a person than health? The disease liberates the human psyche, removes too tight control over actions and sometimes frees us from fear.

Within the framework of the topic under discussion, it is necessary to understand what fear is and what anxiety is. Let us dwell on the views of the outstanding Leipzig psychiatrist Johann Christian Heinroth (1773-1843), who in 1818 introduced into medicine the principles that subsequently formed the main content of psychosomatic medicine, which were set out in the “Textbook of Mental Disorders” (1818) , "Textbook of Anthropology" (1822) and the work "The Key to Heaven and Hell in Man" or "On Moral Strength and Passivity" (1829). Essentially, Heinroth spoke about “moral” “natural selection”, which rids society of people who are capable of destroying it. It turns out that diseases can benefit society as a whole, but again, for an individual, disease is an absolute evil. In order to understand that this is not always the case and that illness brings more than just grief, we need to understand how mental conflict leads to somatic illnesses.

Back in the thirties of the 19th century, the outstanding German physician Karl Ideler (1795-1860), who for thirty-two years headed the psychiatric department of the Berlin Charité hospital, identified differences in the nature of fear and anxiety, which became the focus of psychiatrists in the mid-20th century. When a person is unable to cope with fear of something or someone, he may try to run away, hide, or resort to someone else's help. The causes of fear lie outside a person, the causes of anxiety lie inside. The person himself does not know what exactly causes his anxiety. Something is bothering him. Something prevents him from working, resting, reading, playing, walking. He cannot name the reasons for his torment. Gradually, anxiety becomes unbearable, and it is impossible to hide from it. But a person needs protection. And then all his sensations begin to change. A cornered person tries to reject a world to which he is unable to adapt. He tries to create his own parallel world, just like a child does, building houses out of sand or paper. Hallucinations appear, the purpose of which is to protect them from a hostile and dangerous environment. A person ceases to navigate in time and space, and gets confused in his thoughts. This is how the disintegration of the human personality begins. Ideler first described a phenomenon that in the sixties of the 20th century was called “hallucinations of real fear.” However, sick fantasy manifests itself not only in hallucinations. She distorts all objects and interprets all events in her own way. She is constantly busy trying to find a suitable image for the unbearable silent anxiety. Anxiety must speak. In order for a person in a state of depression to bear it, it must be filled with sufficiently understandable content. Modern existentialist philosophers call this process the “rationalization of anxiety.” Currently, the “rationalization of anxiety” is perceived as something long ago and irrevocably established, but it is often confused with giving a visible image to the hidden enemy, and this is not at all the same thing. A person needs an enemy not at all in order to understand the reasons for his fears or, at least, to find a plausible explanation for them, but as an object of possible aggression, on which he can vent his anger and thus achieve nervous release. The object of aggression is located outside the person and a hostile attitude is consciously experienced towards it; at the same time, in the unconscious, a hostile attitude arises towards some internal organs that are firmly associated with the image of the enemy. When there is no way to reach a visible enemy, a person fights on the field where he is guaranteed “victory” - the reprisal against his own body begins. Suppressed aggression leads to illness and self-destruction of the body. However, it happens that over time an oppressed person needs relief less and less. He embarks on a path that inevitably leads to “internal” death, i.e. to a state in which all desires fade away. Each step in this direction is associated with some new limitation, with the construction of another fence behind which the melancholic person hides. It is no coincidence that Ideler's ideas, like Heinroth's theories, began to attract special attention from psychiatrists in the mid-1980s. A lexicographic study published in Germany in 1980 stated that a hundred years ago the word “fear” (Furcht) was used twice as often as the word “anxiety” (Angst). Now the word “anxiety” is found six times more often than “fear.”

I.K. Heinroth was a highly respected scientist. His thoughts that internal mental conflict gives rise to somatic diseases were listened to with polite interest, but his attempts to prove that all diseases are the result of sins and a vicious life were perceived, to put it mildly, with disbelief. Moreover, it is not possible to verify this. Contemporaries looked at Heinroth as a religious moralist who had forgotten what time he lived in. And this was a time of faith in social progress and another revision of values. New principles for constructing science were sought. Everything subjective was mercilessly swept away from it, i.e. something that is not based on experience. Scientists tried their best to erase random features and make sure that in our world everything is arranged simply and clearly, like in a clockwork. You just need to find out the rules of its operation. If the illness is caused by fatigue, hunger, exhaustion, heat, cold, infection, physical injury or even threats, this is understandable. But what is guilt? What does it come from? Do criminals have it? Don’t we meet people who have led completely unrighteous lives, and yet are not at all tormented by remorse and do not complain of poor health in old age? I.K. Heinroth did this at least 100 years before his ideas could be understood. In the 1980s, some psychiatrists finally figured out for themselves that Heinroth was not late, but was in a hurry to be born.

According to another famous German doctor Georg Walter Groddeck (1866-1934) - “In every disease there are hidden tendencies towards self-healing. They exist even in cancer. Even in the process of dying, life is still in charge, which tries to heal and lead to wholeness, to the best possible existence under bad conditions.”. Illness can be an appeal to oneself or an attempt to influence other people. It can be a plea for self-attention and a means of shock self-therapy. With an increased sense of guilt and an inferiority complex, it can become a means of self-punishment for real or imagined offenses. A doctor can remove a tooth or a tumor, cut out the appendix and even perform a heart transplant, but he cannot reconcile a person with the world and himself. He can calm and help if he knows the line that should not be crossed, but he can outrage and disturb the soul if he believes too much in the omnipotence of medicine. Georg Groddeck once wrote: "There is a strange secret between the doctor and the patient. Understanding of each other without words. Sympathy that cannot be grasped and understood. Where this mutual understanding is absent, it is better if the doctor tells the patient that he personally cannot help. This is not cruelty, but a duty There are enough doctors in the world for everyone to find the doctor they need.".

At the present stage, multifactoriality is recognized in the explanation of psychosomatic diseases - a set of causes that interact with each other. The main ones:

1. Nonspecific hereditary and congenital burden of somatic disorders (chromosomal breakdowns, gene mutations);
2. Hereditary predisposition to psychosomatic disorders;
3. Neurodynamic changes associated with changes in the activity of the central nervous system - the accumulation of affective arousal - anxiety and intense vegetative activity is expected;
4. Personal characteristics - in particular - infantilism, alexithymia (inability to perceive and express feelings in words), underdevelopment of interpersonal relationships, workaholism;
5. Temperament traits, for example, a low threshold of sensitivity to stimuli, adaptation difficulties, a high level of anxiety, isolation, restraint, distrust, the predominance of negative emotions over positive ones;
6. Background of family and other social factors;
7. Events leading to major changes in life (especially in children);
8. Personality of parents - in children - according to Winnicott, children with psychosomatics have borderline mothers;
9. Family disintegration.

Mediators act as biological intermediaries between emotionally charged perceptions, the psyche and somatic symptom formation. The neuroendocrine and immune regulatory systems play a major role in maintaining the body's homeostasis under changing external conditions - during mental or physical threat, hunger, thirst, in regulating the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness, body temperature and pain sensitivity, as well as somatic reactions to strong emotions. The immune system is a system that protects the body from damaging influences and stores traces of memories of positive and negative life circumstances. The level of neurohormones (oxytocin, vasopressin, hypothalamic hormones), neuropeptides (endorphin, etc.) and tissue hormones (adrenaline, serotonin, etc.) changes under psycho-emotional stress, which has a certain somatic effect. Psychoneuroendocrinology studies and corrects these processes. Transient weakening of the immune system occurs in various diseases:

• With acute transient stress (exams);
• With prolonged nervous stress (separation, loss of a loved one, unemployment, social isolation);
• For depressive conditions against the background of recurrent infectious diseases (genital herpes, AIDS).

Psychological factors such as helplessness and hopelessness have a strong damaging effect on the immune system. Successfully overcoming difficulties is beneficial to health. People who regularly visit a psychotherapist get sick less, miss work due to illness less, and visit doctors less. Psychoneuroimmunology deals with these problems. Thus, personality can be represented as a trichotomous structure:

1. The body (soma) is what we are in space.
2. Soul - intellect, feelings (emotions), will, attention, memory; Mental health is the field of activity of a psychiatrist.
3. Spirit - worldview, moral and ethical principles, attitudes that determine human behavior; the formation of the spirit occurs under the influence of society.

Everything is one and interconnected. Conventionally, we can assume the presence of a psychosomatic continuum, at one pole there are mental diseases, at the other somatic, between them - psychosomatic, with different proportions of mental and somatic components in the origin of a particular suffering (Fig. 1).

The existence of such a continuum explains the presence of two opposing points of view on the triggering point of the development of psychosomatic pathology:

1. The therapeutic model is a somatocentric paradigm of pathogenesis (the basis of the disease is latent or subclinical forms of pathology of internal organs).
2. The psychiatric model is a psychocentric paradigm (the basis is mental illness, and somatic symptoms are the equivalent or component of psychopathological symptoms).

What allows a doctor, when collecting anamnestic information, to suspect a psychosomatic illness?

1. The presence of certain personal characteristics, primarily within the framework of accentuation or psychosomatic makeup;
2. Biography “rich in crisis events”;
3. The presence of a family predisposition to certain diseases;
4. The development of somatic and mental disorders in the form of phases, i.e. their frequency;
5. A clear tendency towards the emergence or intensification of somatic pathology during critical periods of life;
6. The individual has sexual problems;
7. A combination of the above listed symptoms in one individual.

Let us consider the main physiological systems in which psychosomatic disorders and diseases are observed.

The cardiovascular system

Cardiovascular diseases are sharply increasing in number depending on the conditions of modern life, which constantly requires increased emotional stress from people. The mildest cardiovascular symptoms that occur against the background of short-term emotional stress are: transient tachycardia, arrhythmia, arterial hypertension or hypotension.

Functional disorders: a feeling of freezing in the heart and pre-cardiac pain, short-term fainting states of varying depths, angina attacks without any electrocardiographic and anatomical disorders, which in some cases can lead to death. All of these symptoms are often preceded by significant emotional distress, often in the form of fear and anger.

Psychosomatic diseases are primarily myocardial infarction and chronic arterial hypertension.

By the way, scientists believe that hypertension is often associated with the presence of a conflict between high social control of behavior and the individual’s unrealized need for power.

Let's consider some personality traits of people suffering from chronic coronary heart disease. It is no coincidence that they speak of “heartfelt excitement”, “heartfelt affection”, “cordial attitude”, “tremor in the heart”. All the feelings that a person experiences are reflected in the work of the heart and leave traces on it. Sometimes successful heart surgery does not bring healing because the causes of the disease are not eliminated. The heart is usually associated with love. The question arises: why does a break in a relationship or the loss of a loved one often lead to heart disease? If a mother does not give her child enough warmth, he will show feelings towards his doll that he would like to feel in his mother. The doll becomes a substitute for a loved one. Some cardiologists suggest that sometimes the heart turns into a symbol of a loved one and all those feelings that for some reason cannot be expressed openly are transferred to it. A person is afraid to show others his dissatisfaction. A woman does not dare to object to her loved one and in order to reduce melancholy and avoid depression, she tyrannizes her own heart, taking out her irritation on it. American scientists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, who studied the characteristics of people with coronary heart disease, discovered certain behavioral characteristics in them. Heart patients often belong to what is called type A. People of this type have the highest risk of heart disease. They usually say that people who need to be careful, first of all, are elderly people, hypertensive people, tobacco smokers and those with high cholesterol levels in the blood. It turns out that behavior is more important than cholesterol. What is type A? This is how people behave who are in constant struggle with the world around them. Their ambition, aggressiveness, belligerence, conflict, impatience, irritability, competitiveness and hostility towards competitors, coexisting with emphasized politeness, are often caused by stress. Type A behavior is manifested in the fact that a person wants to do as much as possible in the shortest possible time and achieve maximum results. He always doesn't make it in time. He always needs more. He is constantly waiting for something. His attention is turned to tomorrow. It is clear that when a person is torn apart by many desires and passions, some of them contradict each other. Something has to be given up. Therefore, it is almost impossible to avoid internal conflict. A person with Type A behavior is dissatisfied and hard on himself. Such people often do not pay attention to their ailments. If necessary, they work even when they feel unwell. They don't seem to know what anxiety is. In fact, this means that anxiety manifests itself in them only in a veiled form. For example, in this: these people are extremely restless and excitable. Sometimes they lose their temper, behave tactlessly and rudely, and become enraged for no particular reason. Previously, myocardial infarction was called “the disease of managers.” Then it became clear that the heart attack had nothing to do with either social status or profession. However, the prevailing mood in society affects the increase in the number of heart diseases. Society rewards energetic Type A people who dream of power and prestigious positions. In addition to type A behavior, there is type B and type C behavior. The first is characterized by a free attitude towards the world and the people around him, satisfaction with the existing situation and a lack of tension. Type C behavior is associated with timidity, stiffness, a willingness to come to terms with any twists of fate without any resistance and a constant expectation of new blows and troubles. In the second half of the 1980s, the German scientist Franz Friczewski clarified the idea of ​​type A and divided it into three subclasses. The first group includes people who are withdrawn, inhibited, and restrained in their facial expressions and gestures. They rarely lose their temper, but if they do break up, they cannot calm down for a long time. The other group are people who are good at hiding their feelings, but are very nervous inside. The third group are people who are used to vigorously expressing their attitude towards everything that happens. They are sociable, waving their arms, gesticulating, talking loudly and laughing. They often lose their temper, get angry, start swearing, but immediately forget the reason for their anger.

Digestive system

The mildest dyspeptic disorders that occur during episodes after emotional stress, as a response to a traumatic situation, are: loss of appetite, up to anorexia, or, on the contrary, increased appetite, nausea, even vomiting, transient “stomach cramps,” diarrhea, constipation, rectal pain . Functional disorders of significant duration arise after the listed disorders, or primarily. Psychosomatic diseases of the digestive system, diseases in the literal sense of the word, include peptic ulcer and hemorrhagic colitis. Some authors classify gallstone disease as a psychosomatic disorder. Also I.K. Heinroth said that all malfunctions in the liver or spleen are a consequence of human defects. Stones from cholesterol, bile pigments and lime salts very often (especially in old age and especially in women) form in the gall bladder, in the liver and bile ducts. When stones block the cystic duct or bile ducts, an attack of hepatic colic occurs. Not everyone who has stones feels any inconvenience from this. In most cases, the stones never make themselves known. Still, there are a lot of those to whom they bring suffering. Gallstone disease is one of the most common in the Western world. For unclear reasons, in the East, for example, in Japan, it is much less common than in Europe. Blacks rarely have stones, and the inhabitants of the island of Java, it seems, do not encounter them at all. Already in Ancient Greece they saw a close connection between the liver, bile and the human psyche. When a person is worried, angry, envious, this immediately affects the functioning of the liver. It’s not for nothing that they say “a bilious person” or “it’s in my liver.” In 1928, E. Witkover decided to check how various experiences affected the liver. Under hypnosis, subjects were told things that made them happy, sad, anxious, or angry. In all cases except the last one, the bile flow increased. Anger and anger led to a decrease in bile secretion. It also turned out that when instilling joyful feelings, the bile took on a more yellow color. It turned out that the composition of bile depends on the instilled ideas. The Swiss psychosomatic specialist who headed the department of psychosomatic medicine at the University Clinic of the University of Basel (he was killed in 1980), Dieter Beck, tried to establish the mental characteristics of people suffering from gallstone disease, and came to the conclusion that they are all more or less susceptible to neurosis obsessive states can be divided into three groups. The first group includes those who are haunted by the desire to restore order to everything, restore justice and provide social assistance to those in need. These people become hostages of the ideal they strive to achieve. They often have hypertension, heart disease, impotence, nervous and physical exhaustion of the body. The second group consists mainly of women whose obsessive-compulsive disorder is combined with depression. They are modest and prone to self-sacrifice, but at the same time, partly consciously and partly unconsciously, they expect that their dedication will be appreciated. Recognition will be compensation for everything they have done for others. They rarely show dissatisfaction, annoyance, or anger. Most often they turn their aggressiveness on themselves. The disease occurs when their willingness to sacrifice is unnecessary and they are rejected. Patients from this group suffer from headaches, migraines, functional stomach diseases and diseases associated with menstruation. In the third group of women, obsessive-compulsive neurosis is combined with hysterical symptoms. Patients have a particularly strong need to be loved. Fear of loss and fear of being alone is the main thing that leads them to illness. Forced marriage, pregnancy without a husband, competition with other women often become the causes of their troubles. Many of them are constantly in a state of anxiety. It is impossible to draw a clear line between different types of people. Most people combine traits of different types in their behavior. The important thing is that here we are talking specifically about types of behavior, and not about characters. The implication is that a person is quite capable of changing his life style. This means that he always has the opportunity to reduce the risk of heart disease, as well as many other diseases.

Rheumatoid arthritis

Psychosomatic disorders and diseases also include various disorders of the motor system (cases of chronic progressive polyarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and other collagenoses).

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune systemic inflammatory disease of connective tissue with predominant damage to joints such as erosive-destructive polyarthritis, followed by joint deformation and the development of ankylosis. This is the most common chronic polyarthritis. Women get sick three times more often than men. Rheumatoid arthritis most often begins between 30 and 50 years of age. In 10-20% of cases the disease progresses steadily. The severity of arthritis varies, from mild morning stiffness to complete disability. More often there is a gradual onset of the disease. Stiffness and pain appear in the small joints of the hands and feet, which intensify in the morning, after a long stay in one position, and disappear with movement. Sleep is disturbed. The duration of stiffness varies: in severe cases it lasts several hours. The proximal interphalangeal, metacarpophalangeal and wrist joints are deformed. The deformation of the interphalangeal joints is especially noticeable; they become spindle-shaped. In 25% of cases, the disease begins with monoarthritis, for example, the knee joint (Fig. 2, 3, 4).

In rheumatism, the main pathological process occurs in the heart. The damage to the joints is of a secondary nature: arthritis in rheumatism is called “volatile” because they are not clearly expressed, do not last long (several days), pass spontaneously, and most importantly, they seem to jump from one joint to another (elbows, ankles, knees).

Rheumatoid arthritis has special symptoms:

• Damage to three or more small joints of the hand for more than three months;
• The symmetrical joints of both arms and/or legs are affected;
• There is stiffness of movement in the affected joints in the morning, which gradually disappears during the day.

This group of diseases includes the following:

• Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is a rare disease, but it represents a serious medical and social problem. Onset of the disease before the age of 16 years. The most common cases are oligoarthritis (50% of cases) and polyarthritis (40%).
• Juvenile ankylosing spondylitis and Still's syndrome (a severe form of the disease with damage to internal organs) occur in 10% of patients. Still's syndrome is usually observed in young children. Characterized by high remitting fever and a copper-red rash, swollen lymph nodes, splenomegaly and pericarditis. Arthritis then develops in the wrist, knee, ankle, metatarsophalangeal and hand joints. If juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is suspected, the child is referred to a rheumatologist.
• Rheumatism usually occurs in children and adolescents. The first attack, as a rule, occurs at the age of 5-15 years after a sore throat caused by Streptococcus pyogenes group A. Characterized by an acute onset (fever, arthralgia, weakness), migrating arthralgia and arthritis with a predominant lesion of large joints (knees, ankles, elbows and wrists) ). Carditis may predominate in the clinical picture. Arthritis is sometimes mild or absent.
• Systemic lupus erythematosus is characterized by symmetrical polyarthritis with predominant damage to small and medium-sized joints. Deformities and subluxations are caused by damage to the joint capsules, ligaments and tendons. Most often, the proximal interphalangeal joints of the hand and wrist joints are involved. Bone destruction usually does not occur. The first manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus are often similar to fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis.
• Systemic scleroderma - at an early stage, 25% of patients develop polyarthritis with predominant damage to the interphalangeal joints of the hand. The soft tissues are swollen, the fingers are thickened, similar to sausages. Raynaud's syndrome is observed in 85% of patients.

These diseases are closely related to social and mental stress through complex cause-and-effect relationships. Psychosocial influences, interacting with factors of hereditary predisposition, personality characteristics, and the type of neuroendocrine reactions to life difficulties, can change the clinical course of the diseases listed above. The effect of psychosocial stress, provoking internal conflicts and causing an adaptive response, can manifest itself covertly, under the guise of somatic disorders, the symptoms of which are similar to the symptoms of organic diseases. In such cases, emotional disorders are often not only not noticed and even denied by patients, but also not diagnosed by doctors.

For different disorders, the influence of mental and somatic factors is different. Therefore, individual psychological diagnosis is of particular importance, since somatic causes are poorly proven, and somatic symptoms are often of controversial importance.

Psychosomatic influences are most clearly visible in rheumatoid arthritis, and therefore, in this disease they are most well studied. Among the personal characteristics of patients with this disease, the following can be noted:

1. Extremely critical attitude towards the manifestation of force. Feeling like too much is being put on you.
2. In childhood, these patients have a certain upbringing style aimed at suppressing the expression of emotions with an emphasis on high moral principles; it can be assumed that the constantly suppressed inhibition of aggressive and sexual impulses since childhood, as well as the presence of an overdeveloped superego, forms a poorly adaptive protective mental mechanism - repression. This protective mechanism involves the conscious displacement of disturbing material (negative emotions, including anxiety, aggression) into the subconscious, which in turn contributes to the emergence and increase of anhedonia and depression. The predominant ones in the psycho-emotional state are: anhedonia - a chronic deficiency of the sense of pleasure, depression - a whole complex of sensations and feelings, of which low self-esteem and guilt, a feeling of constant tension are most characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis. the suppression mechanism prevents the free release of psychic energy, the growth of internal, hidden aggressiveness or hostility. All these negative emotional states, when present for a long time, can cause dysfunction in the limbic system and other emotiogenic zones of the hypothalamus, changes in activity in the serotonergic and dopaminergic neurotransmitter systems, which in turn leads to certain changes in the immune system, and together with the emotionally dependent state found in these patients tension in the periarticular muscles (due to constantly suppressed psychomotor excitation) can serve as a mental component of the entire mechanism of development of rheumatoid arthritis. It is noteworthy that the patients themselves usually do not seriously evaluate their sensations and limitations; for a long time their activity remains active, despite the restriction of movements.

The specific structure of the “rheumatic personality” was described back in the 50s of the twentieth century. The role of primary children's motor skills was emphasized, the inhibition of which is considered today to be more than protective. Probably this primary activity was given very great importance. It is impossible to ignore the development of personality caused by the disease and the resulting isolation and limitation of interests to the area of ​​everyday life needs.

In general, we can talk about the absence or unsuccessful balancing of the poles of softness and hardness. Usually the tendency towards softness is suppressed by increased motor tension, muscle actions, and in women - by “male protest”. A preference for outdoor activities and strength sports, and a tendency to suppress the spontaneous expression of feelings and to restrain them were noted.

All patients with rheumatoid arthritis exhibit three character traits with sufficient consistency:

1. Persistent manifestations of hyper-conscientiousness, commitment and external compliance, combined with a tendency to suppress all aggressive and hostile impulses, such as anger or rage.
2. A strong need for self-sacrifice and an excessive desire to provide help, combined with hyper-moral behavior and a tendency to depressive mood disorders.
3. Expressed need for physical activity before the development of the disease (professional sports, intense physical work).

These character traits appear in rheumatoid arthritis as something frozen and exaggerated; they are inflexible and not adapted to the demands of the environment. From a psychodynamic point of view, this is a characterological-neurotic flaw in the conflict in the sphere of aggressiveness and ambition. The above-mentioned personality traits are, moreover, hypercompensatory protective measures against the underlying conflict. Hyperconscientiousness, refusal to express one's feelings and sacrifice create a protective barrier for the possible breakthrough of aggressive impulses and allow one to get rid of hostile feelings. Depressive manifestations and the tendency to self-sacrifice are considered as protective structures against destructively experienced tyranny. A kind of tolerance, resignation to fate, and liveliness are often described, despite limited mobility and pain. Psychological tests-questionnaires confirm many psychodynamic premises and personal data; with their help, pronounced modesty, humility, and compliance as personality traits are revealed. Signs of a strong “super-ego” are revealed, that is, patients are conscientious, self-possessed, and responsible. Projective tests reveal few interpretations of motor acts compared to control groups.

An unbiased observer is struck by the common signs that are constantly encountered in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, which include both primary character traits and disease-dependent manifestations. What is impressive is the peculiar, hard to explain, unchanging patience. Patients with primary chronic polyarthritis are experienced patients with whom there is little trouble, although it is precisely in such patients that one would expect the greatest difficulties. They are modest and undemanding, often to the point of indifference. There are almost never obvious signs of depression, despite the perceived severity of the disease and the unfavorable prognosis. Their world of self-perception shows a certain limitation due to the reduction of their consciousness on their bodily sphere.

The most typical mental disorders include asthenic symptoms, depressive phenomena with anxiety, fears, ideas of self-blame, a special version of dysmorphophobia syndrome due to the presence of defects in appearance, persistent sleep disturbances, psychopathic disorders and often the phenomenon of psychoorganic syndrome.

Experimental studies have shown that in chronic articular rheumatism, there is increased tone during irritation and aggravating situations compared to indicators in the control group. It is obvious that patients with articular rheumatism transfer their reactions to muscle reactions. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis exhibit various mental irritants, which is determined during an interview about the conflict or during other psychodiagnostic techniques. It has been proven that aggressive feelings and conflicts in patients with rheumatoid arthritis lead to increased electromyographic activity, which is determined most of all in the affected area and in the muscles around the affected joints. Muscle tension lasts longer than the stimulus. These research results confirm psychosomatic hypotheses. But they should be assessed critically, since increased muscle tension in the area of ​​the diseased joint can also be considered as a consequence of the pathological process in the joint itself.

The presence of a vicious circle cannot be denied: pain caused by stimulation of receptors in the joint, in its surroundings or in the periarticular muscles leads to a reflexive ischemic painful state of tension. Emotionally increased muscle tone of the skeletal muscles or trunk causes increased sensorimotor excitability. At the same time, it is always possible that joint damage, microtrauma and an autoimmune response may have an enhancing effect (primarily or secondary) on a situationally and psychologically determined increase in muscle tone.

Researchers note that emotionally stressful events have an impact on chronic articular rheumatism and can provoke an exacerbation of the disease. Mental stress includes, first of all, a crisis in interpersonal relationships, death and loss of loved ones, problems of personal authority and marriage. An external cause causes internal intense aggression, which is suppressed by the patient. Resolving aggressive impulses is a combination of increased self-control and "benevolent" tyranny over others. Mothers suffering from rheumatoid arthritis tend to strictly control almost all motor manifestations in their children.

In addition to the fact that the very fact of having a somatic disease and the patient’s assessment of the disfiguring consequences of the disease often causes quite predictable “psychologically understandable” reactions to the disease, these diseases often cause disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system.

Each patient reacts differently to the disease they have, so it is wise to take into account the following features: the psychological impact of a chronic disease, attitude towards the diagnosis - recognition or lack of understanding, manner of communication and attitude towards the doctor. Patients' attitudes toward the side effects of medications also vary widely. Streets with frequently recurrent diseases often experience depression, which aggravates the clinical picture of suffering through a vicious circle mechanism. The approach to patients with severe functional defects is especially difficult; in this case, it is necessary to grasp the often very fragile line between reactive depression, when traditional psychiatric treatment is necessary, and dysphoric emotional reactions, although pronounced, but corresponding to the severity of the physical illness. Dysphoric emotional reactions are a mood disorder, a kind of constellation of grief, loss of moral strength and a feeling of being “cut out” from life, mental and physical decline. These reactions are difficult to treat with antidepressants and psychotherapy. Their dynamics are determined mainly by the general clinical condition of the patient. Over time, with successful rehabilitation or the patient’s adaptation to his changed status, improvement occurs. Rehabilitation clinics often diagnose depression where it does not exist, and, conversely, do not recognize where it actually occurs.

In conclusion, it should be said that psychosomatic medicine allows us to consider the concept of illness in a new way, to analyze its causes differently and to see in its manifestations what was hidden in the wound.

The development of issues of psychosomatic medicine contributes to the revival of the art of treating a sick person, not a disease.

The material with which bodily psychocorrection works is closely related to psychosomatic diseases. Psychosomatic disorders are nothing more than intense bodily manifestations of psychological problems (usually long-term). Accordingly, the specificity of these disorders is only partly determined by a specific diagnosis (nosological affiliation). To no lesser extent, it depends on the nature of the psychological problem itself, and on the personal characteristics of the bearer of this very problem. Therefore, the physical manifestations of psychosomatic disorders, as a rule, are not confined to the narrow framework of a separate diagnosis - we can only talk about the leading manifestations corresponding to a specific disease. At the same time, as a rule, other psychosomatic symptoms characteristic of other diagnostic units are also present, although less pronounced. Therefore, it is advisable to consider various psychosomatic symptoms not within the framework of individual diseases (nosocentric approach), but individual somatic manifestations (symptom-centric approach).

Speaking about the symptoms of psychosomatic disorders, first of all it is necessary to list the bodily symptoms, which are the result of a tension reaction at the physiological level, and anxiety and frustration at the psychological level. At the same time, psychosomatic disorders of the internal organs are non-adaptive manifestations of stress readiness (V. Ikskul), pain is associated with muscle tension in combination with an increase in pain sensitivity (hyperesthesia). Some psychosomatic complaints have another mechanism of origin - regression, combining both physiological and psychological factors. Physiologically, this is a return of the nervous system to a “childish” state; psychologically, it is a reproduction of early childhood experiences on an unconscious level.

Manifestations of psychosomatic disorders, which have partly a figurative and symbolic meaning (“body language”), are also a manifestation of protective and compensatory mechanisms, a way of resisting subconscious fragments of the psyche against suppression by conscious censorship. Thus, such conversion and dissociative mechanisms of psychosomatic disorders reflect the internal duality and inconsistency of the human psyche. In clinical psychology, there is even a point of view that any chronic somatic (non-infectious) disease begins with an episode of personal dissociation, at least short-term (Schultz L., 2002).

The most typical somatic manifestations of prolonged stress and accumulated unreacted negative emotions are:

A) pain in the heart area that occurs unrelated to physical activity and mimics angina pectoris. It is no coincidence that such functional cardialgia and pain in the heart of a psychogenic nature are described by the intuitively figurative expression “take to heart.”

B) Pain in the neck and head, especially in the occipital region or migraine pain, covering half of the head; less often - pain in the temporal region or in the face, simulating trigeminal neuralgia.

Pain in the temporal region is often associated with chronic tension of the muscles that compress the jaw: in moments of unpleasant experiences, a person automatically, without noticing it, clenches his teeth (such a “stressful” habit can lead to an unpleasant condition called “temporomandibular joint syndrome”). “Tension headaches” often manifest themselves as a sensation of a tight “helmet” being placed on the head and painfully squeezing it (in medical language there is even a figurative expression “neurasthenic helmet”). Tension of the muscles of the neck and back of the head not only leads to pain in this area, but can also be accompanied by dizziness and other very unpleasant symptoms. Often the appearance of pain and heaviness in the cervical-occipital region coincides with an increase in blood pressure (see below). These problems also have a regression component (muscle tension in the back of the neck first occurs in a young child who is learning to hold his head up).

C) Pain in the abdomen, simulating diseases of the digestive system.

Pain in the epigastric region mimics a gastric ulcer. Occurring initially in connection with an influx of negative emotions, it can gradually develop into actual gastritis or peptic ulcer disease - the distance to a “neurogenic” organic disease is quite close here (especially if a person suffers from low self-esteem, engages in “self-ceasing” both figuratively and literally sense).

Girdle pain, radiating to the lower back, often imitates pancreatitis (unlike a true somatic disease, objective deviations according to laboratory tests are insignificant). At the same time, the person does not seem to “digest” some life situation.

Pain in the right hypochondrium associated with the condition of the bile ducts imitates cholecystitis, and in the absence of objective data of bile outflow disturbances (data from an ultrasound examination of the abdominal organs and the level of bilirubin in the blood) are specially called “biliary dyskinesia”. The connection of these pains with an emotional state (depression, a tendency to depression, irritability or hidden aggressiveness) has been known since the time of Hippocrates and was called “melancholy” (literally translated - “black bile”, which reflects the actual fact of a change in the color of bile, its “thickening” - increasing the concentration of bile pigments in case of stagnation in the biliary tract). The regulation of motility of the biliary tract is associated with the production of a substance with a local hormone-like effect - cholecystokinin, the disruption of the formation of which is one of the possible physiological components of attacks of fear (panic attacks).

Pain in the middle and lower third of the abdomen can occur both at a moment of acute stress and as an intuitive signal of external trouble, as a physical manifestation of a depressive forecast for the development of events (the figurative expression “feeling danger in your gut”). They are associated with an increase in the contractile activity of the smooth muscles of the intestinal wall - tonic (spasmodic intestinal condition, constipation) or dynamic (increased intestinal motility). In the latter case, the pain is often of a wandering or grasping nature and may be accompanied by a bowel disorder, popularly called “bear disease” and diagnosed as “irritable bowel syndrome.” (The regression mechanism is early childhood experience associated with learning personal hygiene).

It is necessary to take into account that the autonomic nerve plexuses of the digestive tract (located in the intestinal wall) intensively synthesize neurotransmitters. First of all, these are biogenic amines (dopamine, serotonin), a decrease in the content of which in the body is noted during depression. And as you know, decreased appetite and inhibition of intestinal motor activity are typical physical manifestations of depression. Fasting and dietary measures can partly influence this condition towards normalization. Thus, “body cleansing” and “therapeutic fasting” (as well as religious fasts), beloved by the Russian population, are in many ways intuitive ways of self-help for depressive conditions.

D) Pain in the back (in the lower back, in the interscapular region), either regarded as a manifestation of spinal osteochondrosis, or provoking actual exacerbations of this literally painful process. Often, an increase in the tone of the paravertebral muscles is combined with “stagnant” tension in the muscles of the limbs, leading to remote, so-called muscular-tonic manifestations of spinal osteochondrosis.

E) Jumps in blood pressure (usually an increase, less often a decrease), mainly manifested in fluctuations in systolic pressure (and changes in the pulse amplitude of pressure).

E) Palpitations or heart interruptions, forcing a person to painfully, with anxious anticipation, listen to his heart rhythm.

G) Difficulty swallowing and a feeling of a “lump” in the throat. This may also include a spasm of the muscles that control the vocal cords, which leads to a violation of voice formation (“voice intercepted”). This is how a person often loses his voice in moments of intense emotional excitement. Two regression mechanisms of such disorders can be mentioned: firstly, a suppressed cry in an infant (“primary cry”, according to A. Yanov); secondly, suppressed speech at an older age (against the background of strict shouts from parents who forbid the child to verbally express his opinion and his emotions).

H) Shortness of breath, not associated with respiratory diseases and manifested as a feeling of “dissatisfaction” with inhalation, accompanied by a desire to take a deeper breath. (The latter can lead to excessively deep breathing - the so-called hyperventilation syndrome). There are also at least two regression mechanisms here. The earliest of them is the first breath imprinted in memory at a subconscious level, which, through the imprinting mechanism, becomes a stereotypical reaction to stress. The second regression component of hyperventilation is the child’s suppressed crying reaction (the child reflexively tries to stop crying by taking frequent deep breaths with short exhalations).

I) In this case, a feeling of numbness and tingling in the hands often occurs (both as a component of hyperventilation syndrome and as an independent manifestation). Similar sensations in the legs may be accompanied by painful cramps in the calf muscles. (A disturbance in the metabolism of microelements, primarily calcium, caused by prolonged stress and a shift in hormonal balance, also contributes, leading to increased neuromuscular excitability. “Washing out” of calcium from the body in women over 40 years of age can lead to osteoporosis and be accompanied by bone pain. )

J) Nasal congestion, which makes nasal breathing difficult and is regarded as “vasomotor rhinitis.” In contrast to “pure” rhinitis, the deterioration of the condition is usually clearly associated with an exacerbation of psychological problems (conflicts, overload at work, overwork in students, etc.) In this case, painful tension in the muscles of the back of the neck is often also detected (a bodily reflection of the inability to bear the burden responsibility). The regression mechanism is also delayed crying (“unshed tears”).

K) Short-term visual impairment (objects seem to blur before the eyes, and a person has to strain his vision in order to focus it and see the surroundings more clearly). The regression mechanism is the “defocused” vision of a newborn child (transition from a water environment to an air environment, inability to fix the gaze).

Stress-related tension can also lead to more serious visual problems, ranging from visual fatigue, accommodation spasm, which can eventually lead to myopia, or increased intraocular pressure (leading to glaucoma). Symbolic, conversion mechanism of stress-related visual impairment - “I don’t see because I don’t want to see.”

M) The former is often accompanied by dizziness (“when I think about problems, my head starts spinning”), and the latter, in turn, can also be associated with uncertainty when walking, a feeling of “wobbly” legs or a feeling that “the earth is floating under your feet” . The regression mechanism is the sensations of a child who is still learning to stand and walk. Dizziness may be accompanied by attacks of nausea, tinnitus, which reduces hearing acuity - the so-called Meniere-like syndrome (labyrinthine edema). The conversion-symbolic subconscious mechanism of such violations is “I don’t hear because I don’t want to hear.”

H) Flashes of heat (“blood rushed to the head”) or chills (“everything inside froze from fear”), sometimes alternating in waves (“throws me hot and cold”), which may be accompanied by muscle tremors (the patient describes my feelings like “I’m literally worried to the point of trembling in my arms and legs”). The regression mechanism is an imperfection of the thermoregulation mechanism in a newborn child who physically needs the warmth of the mother’s body.

A) Loss of appetite - from complete aversion to food to attacks of “ravenous” hunger. (Usually the patient says that in order to calm down in an emotional situation, he needs to “eat his stress”). There are both a physiological mechanism associated with depressive disorders (described above) and a psychological, regression mechanism itself - an analogy with breastfeeding, when a child in a state of discomfort either refuses the breast, or, conversely, seeks the mother’s breast and calms down. For an infant, feeding is not only the satisfaction of the physiological need for food, but also the most important way of receiving positive emotions, and a channel of close bodily communication with the mother (bonding, autonomic resonance).

P) Attacks of psychogenic nausea (less commonly, vomiting), occurring directly in a stressful situation or on the eve (“in anticipation”) of emotionally intense events, unwanted meetings associated with hostile relationships (“he makes me sick”). It is more common in children and adolescents - for example, a child who does not want to go to class, where he is subjected to pressure (or humiliation) from the teacher, has bouts of vomiting during the morning preparations for school (when mentally imagining a traumatic situation). Psychogenic vomiting also occurs in youth dysmorphophobia, due to dissatisfaction with one’s own appearance and an obsessive desire to lose weight. The regression mechanism is “burping up” in an infant when overexcited.

P) Sleep disorders - insomnia or, conversely, drowsiness, accompanied by the feeling that there was not enough sleep. In other words, after waking up, a person feels “broken”, sometimes he may even complain of muscle pain (a consequence of the fact that even in sleep he does not relax), describing his sensations “as if he had been carrying bags all night” or even “as if with sticks” beat" (such self-punishment may be subconsciously desired by a critical Super-Ego).

C) Excessive urination, which usually occurs after panic attacks. (Here, stress disorders intersect with the manifestations of so-called diabetes insipidus and can aggravate the course of the latter).

T) A variety of sexual problems (both decreased sexual desire and potency, and in some cases hypersexuality). Often they can be caused by habitual tension in the muscles of the pelvic area. Thus, such problems, as V. Reich discovered, can be directly related simply to a person’s inability to relax in the literal sense, that is, to relieve muscle tension. The regression mechanism of potency disorders in men and female coldness is an infantile rejection of “adulthood”, of one’s gender role. This also includes functional disorders of the menstrual cycle in women (cycle irregularity, amenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome).

The main difference between all the psychosomatic disorders described above and ordinary bodily suffering is the nature of their course: distinct deterioration coincides with moments of violent emotional experiences. It is also important to emphasize the presence of personal predisposition, or personality-typological characteristics that predispose to the occurrence of psychosomatic disorders.

Such disorders can arise either in direct connection with stress (at a moment of acute stress or against the background of ongoing chronic neuropsychic tension), or have a delayed nature. In the latter case, the body begins to “crumble” some time after stressful events. This is the so-called “rebound syndrome”, which follows stress like the tail of a comet. Moreover, this can happen even if emotionally significant events were positive, associated with life successes - “achievement syndrome” caused by the experience of intense positive emotions and, most importantly, the acquisition of long-awaited joys that a person persistently strived for.

What do all these ailments lead to, besides feeling unwell? Physical suffering, in turn, causes mental suffering. Primary emotional problems develop into secondary psychological discomfort. We list the most common manifestations of psychosomatic, stress-related disorders at the psychological level:

A) anxiety, anxiety in its purest form. (Anxiety is nothing more than fear that is not directed at any specific thing.) Particularly characteristic of prolonged stress is the so-called “free-floating”, unmotivated anxiety, in other words, groundless fears about unlikely events that may never happen.

B) Depressed mood (up to a persistently low one, reaching the level of depression. From anxiety to depression there is one step...) Sudden mood swings are also possible, often accompanied by emotional imbalance - uncontrollable violent outbursts of emotions and “splashing out” of aggressiveness.

C) Unmotivated irritability and conflict caused not by external reasons, but by the internal state of a person.

D) Violation of relationships with people. In accordance with K. Horney's typology, relationships can change from emotional coldness, insensitivity (movement “from people”) to open hostility towards others (movement “against people”). Or, on the contrary, an infantile dependence on others may arise (a movement “against people”) - a demonstration of one’s mental discord and helplessness, humiliation, a search for external support and sympathy.

E) The desire to isolate yourself from real life as a source of stress, to isolate yourself from the everyday bustle, reminiscent of stressful events, and from the people associated with them - to retire to an imaginary cell or “ivory tower”. Means of escaping reality can be various kinds of addictions, both chemical - be it alcohol or drugs, and addictive behavior - gambling or computer games, Internet addiction or various kinds of fanaticism.

Panic attacks are of a combined – both psychological and physiological – nature, ranging from the fear of losing control over oneself to the all-consuming fear of death. The regression mechanism is the revival of primary childhood fears (described below) in an adult.

Naturally, both groups of reasons described ultimately lead to a decrease in social activity and ability to work. First of all, due to constant (even at the beginning of the working day or after rest) and seemingly causeless fatigue associated with exhaustion of the nervous system. Increased distractibility and inability to concentrate also contribute to decreased performance.

Separately, it is necessary to say about fears, which are a form of release of internal psychological tension created by stress and at the same time a projection of childhood negative experiences. At least let's mention the most Universal forms of fears- such as:

1) Fear of death- primary, “animal” right-hemisphere fear. (In fact, this is not the fear of death as such, since fear, by definition, is associated with something specific and known. A person usually does not have the experience of dying - with the exception of those few who have experienced clinical death.) What is associated with death - first of all, the fear of something unknown, life-threatening, beyond human power and inexorable. This is the reverse side of the primary trauma of birth - the child’s fear of uncertainty, of a blind, ruthless force that disrupts his usual existence. (This fear accompanying the birth process is described by S. Grof (1994) as the experience of basic perinatal matrices). In adulthood, a child's fear of birth develops into a fear of everything unknown, uncontrollable, exciting and subjugating, of an all-powerful providence, and on a conscious level it is interpreted as a fear of death.

Adjacent here Fear of loneliness- children's fear of abandonment, called in psychoanalysis the fear of “losing an object”, the loss of a “protector” or “breadwinner”, but in fact - the fear of losing a mother (or a person replacing her who cares for the child), an acute feeling of one’s own helplessness and defenselessness. This is why panic attacks in adults are always alleviated in the presence of significant others who literally hold the patient’s hand, symbolically replacing parents.

2) Fear of losing control- “left-hemisphere.” The fear of losing control over oneself is a product of the harsh parental instructions dormant in the psyche of an adult, learned in childhood (Super-Ego, internal “Parent”). We can call it the fear of the rational part of consciousness of its own “disobedience.” After all, what most frightens such an educational-critical part of the personality is precisely the fear of doing something reprehensible, prohibited (something that the elders strictly forbade) due to the release of hidden forces dormant in one’s own psyche, not controlled by logic and common sense. meaning (in fact, just the naughty inner “Child” - the childish, spontaneous and “playful” part of the personality).

3) Fear of going crazy(mixed, from the point of view of interhemispheric conflict).

More specific types of fears, which are also a reflection of childhood, are their specific subtypes (phobias), associated with one or another specific object of fear. For example, this is agoraphobia - the fear of a child who is afraid of being left alone, without his mother nearby, or the opposite type of fear - social phobia, the fear of a child who is terrified of “strangers” people.

Summarizing the above, we can see that the symptoms of psychosomatic disorders mainly come down to the bodily manifestations of “childhood” anxieties and fears, as well as depression and suppressed aggressiveness

The connection between the psyche and the body has been proven for a long time. The human brain is one of the main mechanisms for the coordinated functioning of the entire life system.

There are diseases that originate from the head. What are psychosomatic diseases, who is predisposed to them, what are their characteristics, causes and how to deal with them are key questions in science.

Psychosomatic diseases originate from the subconscious and respond to the body in the form of a somatic illness.

What is psychosomatics of diseases

Diseases of this nature are studied by medicine at the intersection with psychology. Psychosomatics as a science teaches people to find the true origins of their illnesses within themselves. Since the time of Socrates, doctors and healers have known that the body, soul and mind are a single mechanism.

Psychosomatics is the physical manifestation of emotions.

Psychosomatic diseases became an official class of diseases in the middle of the last century. Treatment is based on the principle of healing the body by eliminating oppressive psychological problems.

How do psychosomatic illnesses differ from ordinary illnesses?

The understanding that the disease is psychosomatic in nature comes when drug treatment is powerless/little effective. The disease subsides for a while, but returns during emotional outbursts, stressful situations or depressed physical condition.

The beginning of a psychosomatic illness is a psychological impulse. As a rule, this is a strong emotional shock (loss, betrayal, divorce, illness of loved ones). The disease, which occurs as a result of an emotional failure, subsequently develops into a chronic form without timely comprehensive treatment.

Treatment includes psychological assistance (consultation, psychotherapy, correction) and medications.

What diseases are classified as psychosomatic diseases

Almost all diseases can be caused by a worn out/traumatized psyche, so there is no specific/definitive list.

• gastrointestinal diseases; eating disorder (bulimia, obesity, anorexia);
• skin diseases;
• cardiovascular diseases;
• disturbance in the respiratory system;
• endocrine diseases;
• hypertension;
• gynecological problems;
• infectious diseases;
• oncology;
• problems with the musculoskeletal system;
• sexual disorders;
• headaches of any etiology;
• psychovegetative dysfunction.

The internal problem comes out through the weakest organ.

Main manifestations of psychosomatics

There are a sufficient number of manifestations of psychosomatics:

• blood pressure surges;
• cardiopalmus;
• pain in the back, head, neck, stomach or heart area;
• difficulty swallowing reflex, throat spasm;
• frequent dizziness;
• increased body temperature;
• short-term numbness of the limbs;
• periodic visual impairment;
• leg cramps;
• state of fatigue;
• hair loss;
• violation of the structure of the skin (including allergic reactions).

These individual symptoms are similar to the onset of a physical illness.

Who is at risk for psychosomatic problems

No one is immune from psychosomatic diseases; life dictates rules that drive a person into a frantic rhythm and force him to remain in tense states for a long time. It all depends on the structure of a person’s thoughts, attitudes and ability to resolve intrapersonal conflicts.

• perceive adversity as defeats rather than experiences;
• failure to adapt;
• undeveloped stress resistance;
• an undeveloped (so necessary) feeling of love for oneself and others;
• inadequately low self-esteem – fear of others’ assessments, inability to express experiences, shyness, codependency. Resistance to change, even apparently positive ones;
• focusing on your internal negative experiences - lack of a sense of humor and joy, chronic anxiety, pessimism, depression, apathy;
• authoritarianism towards oneself and others;
• setting difficult/unattainable goals;
• poor satisfaction of biological needs (sleep, food, rest).

There is no escape from stress, it is important to remember the main rule - if you cannot change the situation, change your attitude towards it.

Psychosomatic diseases. Causes

Psychologists say that a person can destroy himself if he ignores his own needs and suppresses desires. Then the body responds with a violent protest, resulting in illness. A number of reasons lead to this process:

1. Stress, trauma and burnout. Stress is a major source of health problems. Chronic exposure to stressful situations constantly keeps a person in a tense state, with each negative scene/reaction dealing a new blow to a weakened immune system. When the body becomes exhausted, it shoots out a physical manifestation, giving a distress signal.
2. Inability to experience emotions. When a person is unable/allows himself to accept and experience his own negative emotions, they have nowhere to go and result in physical illness.
3. Getting stuck in negative emotions. When a person does not let go of pain, resentment, disappointment, feeding them with memories, the body wears out. The same situation occurs as during stress - the system signals a malfunction.
4. Motivation for illness. It sounds strange, but people are familiar with situations where personal issues can be resolved through illness. Moreover, the disease is not far-fetched, but real, caused by one’s own subconscious.

These reasons cause harm when you ignore your own feelings. Everything is good in moderation and on time!

Psychosomatics in men

Psychosomatics in men is associated exclusively with an incorrect attitude towards oneself and the opposite sex (resentment, anger, irritation, claims). This results in diseases of the genital organs (testicles, penis, prostate gland), impotence, premature ejaculation during sexual intercourse.

Summary psychosomatic table

This is not the entire list of diseases/causes. Psychosomatics is capable of things that people are not even aware of.

What to do with psychosomatics

Psychosomatics is taken seriously.

1. Monitor and be aware of your own feelings, thoughts and emotions, respond competently to stressful situations - they trigger defense mechanisms, warning of danger.
2. Learn to live in harmony with your own emotions, become a master of them, periodically letting them out for a walk.
3. Accept your own past, thank it for the experience and let it go. Don't be afraid of the future, enjoy today.

An experienced psychologist will provide assistance. Psychology includes a large number of techniques and approaches with the help of which a person is able to painlessly resolve his own problems and complete unlived/unacknowledged situations.

How to heal yourself

The first thing to do is accept it. Accepting a problem/illness means getting rid of it halfway.

Healing from psychosomatic illness begins with the harmonious interaction of consciousness with the soul. Let acceptance into your consciousness, and harmony, strength and love into your soul.

Understand that life consists of different moments - grief and joy, laughter and tears, bad people and those for whom you live. There are situations that cannot be changed; they are not subject to either circumstances or time...

The only thing that matters is what's inside us. It is important that we are in harmony with our own deepest feelings and can listen to them in time. Be aware of your own habits, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Breathe deeply, know how to relax, notice the joys in the little things, arrange emotional fasting days.

The main thing is to change your own worldview. Be happy!

In development psychosomatic diseases The main provoking factor is considered psychological.

And it’s not without reason that their characteristic symptoms are similar to those of somatic diseases:

• often feel dizzy;
• there is a feeling of general malaise, fatigue;
• body temperature rises, etc.

Psychosomatic problems often manifest themselves stomach ulcers, high blood pressure,.

Groups of psychosomatic diseases

When a patient consults a doctor with complaints, there is a need to undergo examinations and tests. This will help him determine the diagnosis and prescribe effective treatment.

However, if after a course of therapy the disease subsided and soon returned again, it can be assumed that its causes are psychosomatic in nature and it is unlikely that it will be possible to eliminate it completely with medication.

The list of possible diseases of a psychosomatic nature can be grouped as follows:

1) Problems with the respiratory system;

2) Diseases of the heart and blood vessels;

3) Eating disorder (obesity, nervous anorexia, bulimia);

4) Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;

5) Diseases of the endocrine system;

6) Problems with the skin;

7) Diseases associated with gynecology;

8) Disorders of a sexual nature;

9) Oncology;

10) Diseases of infectious origin;

11) Diseases of the musculoskeletal system;

12) Psychovegetative dysfunction;

13) ;

14) Headache.

Causes of psychosomatic diseases

To determine the possible causes of health problems, there is a table of diseases. How to treat a psychosomatic illness and get rid of its characteristic symptoms can also be learned from such tables.

One of the first who dared to say that all human systems are closely interconnected is Louise Hay.

She suggested that the bad thoughts and emotions that a person has contribute to the destruction of his body at the physical level and provoke the appearance of diseases. Her theory was also studied by a famous psychologist and homeopath Valery Sinelnikov.

There is a table of diseases according to Sinelnikov, using which you can determine the psychosomatics of your diseases and begin to work on yourself in order to eliminate the psychological factor that provokes it:

1) Headache . It appears as a result of the hypocrisy inherent in man.
What is said out loud is very different from real thoughts and feelings. Therefore, strong nervous tension appears and, as a result, pain in the head;

2) Runny nose . Often its appearance is a symbol of tears. Deep down, a person is very depressed and worried, but does not splash out his emotions;

3) Cystitis . After conducting research, Sinelnikov found that the psychosomatic nature of cystitis is hidden in anger and irritability towards the opposite sex or sexual partner;

4) Cough . The appearance of any disease accompanied by a severe cough indicates a person’s hidden desire to express himself and draw attention to his person.
It may also be a response to disagreement with others;

5) Diarrhea . The condition of the intestines is reflected by the presence of strong fear and anxiety. A person feels insecure in this world and is not ready to fight his fear. That is why a huge number of cases of diarrhea occur before an important and exciting event;

6) Constipation . Retention of feces in the intestines is due to the fact that a person does not want to let go of painful memories from the past, part with unnecessary people, or lose a job that he does not like.
Another psychosomatic cause of constipation is stinginess and greed for money;

7) Angina . A person who constantly suffers from throat diseases, including sore throat, keeps emotions and anger inside himself that he is not ready to spill out. The throat reacts to this with the appearance of an inflammatory process. A person does not express himself and his feelings, cannot stand up for himself and ask for anything;

8) Herpes . Oral diseases are directly related to prejudice against people. In the subconscious, a person harbors caustic words and expressions, accusations against other people that he does not express to them;

9) Uterine bleeding . This is a symbol of passing joy. It is necessary to get rid of the resentment and anger that has accumulated over the years in order to return joy to your life and get rid of problems;

10) Nausea, vomiting . The psychosomatic background of this phenomenon is hidden in non-acceptance and non-digestion of the world. Another reason may lie in subconscious fears, which is what is considered the main cause of toxicosis in pregnant women;

11) Hemorrhoids, anal fissures . Problems associated with the anus indicate that it is difficult for a person to get rid of the old and unnecessary in his life. Every time a person gets angry, experiences fear and pain of loss;

12) Thrush and other diseases of the genital organs. Genitals are a symbol of principles, so the problems associated with them are the fear of not being at the top, uncertainty about one’s attractiveness. Thrush can also appear when a person feels aggression towards a member of the opposite sex, or a specific sexual partner;

13) Allergy, urticaria . Such diseases indicate a lack of self-control. Therefore, subconsciously the body begins to bring out feelings and emotions that have been suppressed: irritation, resentment, anger;

14) Kidneys . Diseases of this organ are caused by a combination of such emotions: criticism and condemnation, anger and malice, resentment and hatred. A person thinks that he is haunted by failures and does everything wrong in life, thereby disgracing himself in the eyes of others. Also, the condition of the kidneys may be reflected by fear of the future and one’s future well-being;

15) Gallbladder . People suffering from gallbladder problems tend to harbor anger, irritability and anger towards other people. This provokes inflammatory processes in the organ, stagnation of bile and biliary dyskinesia, which soon leads to the appearance of stones.

This is not the entire list of diseases that may have a psychosomatic origin. There are an innumerable number of them.

The main thing is to remember that all the negative thoughts and emotions that a person keeps inside himself can lead to disorders of the human nervous and immune systems. As a result, a huge number of health problems appear, so all your negative emotions, experiences and grievances must be thrown out.

Complete table according to Sinelnikov

Hidden text

Alcoholism is a feeling of loneliness, uselessness, unwillingness to live, lack of attention and affection.

Allergies – lack of confidence in one’s own strength, stress, feelings of fear.

Apathy is resistance to feelings, fear, suppression of one’s self, indifferent attitude of others.

Apoplexy, seizure - flight from family, from oneself, from life.

Appendicitis - fear of life.

Arthritis, gout - lack of love from others, increased criticism of oneself, feelings of resentment, indignation, anger.

Asthma – suffocating love, suppression of feelings, fear of life, evil eye.

Insomnia – fear, guilt, mistrust.

Rabies, hydrophobia - anger, aggression.

Eye diseases - anger, frustration.

Stomach diseases are a fear.

Dental disease – lingering indecision, inability to make a clear decision.

Leg diseases - fear of the future, fear of being unrecognized, fixation on childhood traumas.

Diseases of the nose - resentment, crying, a feeling of insignificance, it seems to you that no one notices or takes you seriously, the need for someone's help.

Liver disease – anger, chronic resentment, self-justification, constant bad mood.

Kidney disease - boredom, anger at yourself, self-criticism, lack of emotions, disappointment, annoyance, failure, failure, mistake, failure, inability, reacting like a small child, self-criticism, losing.

Back problems - lack of emotional support, lack of love, guilt, fear generated by lack of money.

Sore knees - pride, selfishness, fear.

Sores, wounds, ulcers - hidden anger.

Warts – belief in one’s own ugliness, evil eye, envy.

Bronchitis - disputes, swearing in the family, tense atmosphere in the house.

Varicose veins – loss of strength, overwork, overload.

Sexually transmitted diseases - mistreating other people, believing that sex is a dirty business.

Excess weight – fear, need for protection, self-denial.

Gray hair - stress, worries, overwork.

Hemorrhoids are a worry about the past.

Hepatitis – fear, anger, hatred.

Herpes – a feeling of guilt for your thoughts about sex, shame, expectation of punishment from Above.

Gynecological diseases - reluctance to be a woman, dislike for oneself, rude, inattentive attitude of men.

Deafness – unwillingness to listen to others, stubbornness.

Pus, inflammation - thoughts of revenge, worry about the harm caused, a feeling of remorse.

Headaches - fear, self-criticism, feeling of self.

Depression – anger, hopelessness, envy.

Diabetes – jealousy, the desire to control the lives of other people.

Diarrhea, diarrhea - fear.

Dysentery – fear, strong anger.

Bad breath – gossip, dirty thoughts.

Jaundice – envy, jealousy.

Gallstones – bitterness, heavy thoughts, pride.

Constipation – conservatism in thoughts.

Goiter, thyroid – a feeling of hatred because you have been hurt, suffering, excessive sacrifice, a feeling that your path in life is being blocked.

Itching – remorse, repentance, impossible desires.

Heartburn – fear, severe fear.

Impotence – fear of being ineffective in bed, excessive tension, feelings of guilt, anger at the previous partner, fear of the mother.

Infection – irritation, anger, frustration.

Curvature of the spine – fear, clinging to old ideas, distrust of life, lack of courage to admit one’s mistakes.

Coughing is a desire to attract the attention of others.

Menopause - fear of age, fear of loneliness, fear of not being desired anymore, self-rejection, hysteria.

Skin diseases - anxiety, fear.

Colic, sharp pain - anger, irritation, frustration.

Colitis - inflammation of the mucous membrane of the colon - too demanding parents, a feeling of oppression, lack of love and affection, lack of a sense of security.

A lump in the throat is fear.

Conjunctivitis – anger, frustration, disappointment.

High blood pressure – worries about the past.

Low blood pressure – lack of love in childhood, defeatist moods, lack of faith in one’s own strength.

Nail biting - nervousness, frustration of plans, anger at parents, self-criticism and devouring oneself.

Laryngitis - inflammation of the larynx - fear of expressing your opinion, indignation, resentment, indignation against someone else's authority.

Lungs – depression, grief, sadness, misfortune, failure.

Leukemia is the inability to enjoy life. Fever - anger, rage.

Shingles - fear and tension, too much sensitivity.

Mastitis is excessive care for someone, overprotection.

Uterus, disease of the mucous membrane - fear, disappointment.

Meningitis – anger, fear, family discord.

Menstrual problems - rejection of one's feminine nature, guilt, fear, attitude towards the genitals as something dirty and shameful.

Migraine - dissatisfaction with one's life, sexual fears.

Myopia, myopia – fear of the future.

Thrush, candidiasis - love of controversy, excessive demands on people, distrust of everyone, suspicion, feelings of disappointment, hopelessness, anger.

Seasickness - fear of death.

Incorrect posture, head position - fear of the future, fear.

Indigestion – fear, horror, anxiety.

Accidents - belief in violence, fear of speaking out loud about one's problems.

Sagging facial features – a feeling of resentment and indignation towards one’s own life.

Sagging buttocks – loss of strength and self-confidence.

Gluttony – fear, self-condemnation.

Baldness – fear, tension, desire to control everyone and everything.

Fainting, loss of consciousness – fear.

Burns – anger, irritation, rage.

Tumors - remorse, remorse, obsessive thoughts, old grievances, you are fueling indignation and indignation.

Brain tumor – stubbornness, unwillingness to accept anything new in your life.

Osteoporosis is a feeling of lack of support in this life.

Otitis - pain in the ears - anger, unwillingness to hear, scandals in the family.

Belching is fear.

Pancreatitis – anger and frustration, dissatisfaction with life.

Paralysis – fear, horror.

Facial paralysis – reluctance to express one’s feelings, tight control over one’s anger.

Parkinson's disease is the fear and desire to control everything and everyone.

Food poisoning - a feeling of defenselessness, falling under someone else's control.

Pneumonia (pneumonia) – despair, fatigue from. life, emotional wounds that cannot be healed.

Gout – lack of patience, anger, need for dominance.

Pancreas – lack of joy in life.

Polio – extreme jealousy.

Cutting is a violation of one’s own principles.

Loss of appetite - worries, self-hatred, fear of life, the evil eye.

Leprosy is the inability to manage your life, confidence in your worthlessness or lack of spiritual purity.

Prostate – guilt, sexual pressure from others, male fears.

Cold – self-hypnosis “I get colds three times every winter”, disorder in thoughts, confusion in the head.

Acne is dissatisfaction with oneself.

Psoriasis – skin – fear of being offended, wounded, death of one’s feelings.

Cancer is a deep wound, a long feeling of indignation and resentment, grief, sadness and devouring oneself, hatred, damage, curses.

Wounds – anger and self-blame.

Stretch – anger and resistance, reluctance to move in a certain direction in life.

Rickets – lack of love and security.

Vomiting is a fear of new things.

Rheumatism – feeling of being victimized, deceived, tormented, persecuted, lack of love, chronic feelings of bitterness, resentment, resentment, resentment.

Spleen – melancholy, anger, irritation, obsessions.

Hay fever – accumulation of emotions, persecution mania, guilt.

Heart – emotional problems, worries, lack of joy, hardness of heart, tension, overwork, stress.

Bruises and bruises are self-punishment.

Sclerosis – hard-heartedness, iron will, lack of flexibility, fear, anger.

Decreased function of the thyroid gland – yielding, refusal. Feeling hopelessly depressed.

Spasm of the jaw muscles – anger, desire to control everything, refusal to openly express one’s feelings.

Spasms are tension of thoughts due to fear.

Adhesions on the stomach - fear.

AIDS – self-denial, blaming oneself for sexual reasons, a strong belief in one’s “badness.”

Stomatitis – censure, reproaches, words tormenting a person.

Cramps, spasms - tension, fear, tightness.

Slouching is a feeling that you are carrying a heavy burden on your shoulders, defenselessness and helplessness.

Rash - a desire to attract attention, irritation, small fears.

Tachycardia – heart – fear.

Tick ​​- eyes - fear, the feeling that someone is constantly watching you.

Large intestine - confused thoughts, layers of the past.

Tonsillitis - inflammation of the tonsils - fear, suppressed emotions, stifled creativity.

Nausea-fear.

Traumas – anger at oneself, feelings of guilt.

Birth traumas are all from a past life.

Tuberculosis – selfishness, cruel, merciless” painful thoughts, revenge.

Skin tuberculosis, lupus - anger, inability to stand up for oneself.

An enlarged thyroid gland is an extremely frustrating experience that you are not able to do what you want. Always realizing others, not yourself. Fury that they were left behind.

Acne - the feeling that you are dirty and no one loves you, small outbursts of anger.

Impact, paralysis - refusal to give in, resistance, better to die than to change.

Choking, seizures - fear.

Animal bites - anger, need for punishment.

Insect bites – feeling of guilt over little things.

Insanity is an escape from family, an escape from life's problems.

Urethra, inflammation - anger.

Fatigue – boredom, lack of love for your work.

Ears, ringing - stubbornness, reluctance to listen to anyone, reluctance to hear the inner voice.

Phlebitis, inflammation of the veins - anger and frustration, blaming others for restrictions in life and lack of joy in it.

Frigidity – fear, denial of pleasure, pleasure, belief that sex is bad, insensitive partners, fear of the father.

Boils - anger, constant boiling and seething inside.

Snoring is a persistent refusal to free yourself from old patterns.

Cellulite is long-lasting anger and a sense of self-punishment, attachment to pain, fixation on the past, fear of choosing your own path in life.

Jaw, problems - anger, indignation, indignation, resentment, revenge.

Neck – stubbornness, rigidity, inflexibility, inflexibility, refusal to look at a question from different angles.

Thyroid gland - humiliation; I will never be able to do what I want. When will it be my turn?

Eczema is an extremely strong contradiction to something, a rejection of something foreign.

Enuresis – fear of parents.

Epilepsy – a feeling of persecution, a feeling of struggle, violence towards oneself.

Stomach ulcer – fear, belief in one’s “badness”.

Barley - anger.

Video

He continued in this manner, and the patient left in great irritation and was angry with Erickson for two weeks. Two weeks later she came again and showed several spots on her arms. This was all that was left of her psoriasis. By irritating her and causing her to become angry with himself, Erickson gave vent to her emotions.

Psychosomatic disorders- these are diseases, various kinds of ailments and disorders of bodily functioning, arising mainly under the influence of psychological reasons. In a person suffering from a psychosomatic illness, emotional experiences are expressed in the form of bodily symptoms.

It has long been noted that the bodily symptoms that appear in a psychosomatic disorder very often (though perhaps not always) symbolically reflect the patient's problem. In other words, psychosomatic symptoms are often bodily metaphors for psychological problems.

Popular on the site: Psychosomatics – 12 Signals of Our Body (editor’s note)

For example, one man contacted me about extrasystole. As you know, our heart contracts in a certain rhythm. Between two contractions there is a pause during which the heart rests. If the heart cannot withstand this rest pause and contracts out of turn, this is called an extrasystole. At the same time, the person himself experiences unpleasant sensations of “interruptions” in the heart.

This man had reached a certain ceiling in his professional development, and was eager to make a qualitative leap in his career in order to move up a step. Advancement up the career ladder was delayed, which caused him constant stress. The extraordinary contractions of his heart seemed to express his desire to quickly take this step in his career.

Another patient in the recent past experienced an extremely unpleasant event for herself, about which she continued to experience a painful feeling of guilt. Unconsciously, she really wanted to go back in time and live that period of time again, without this event.

As a result, she developed reflux esophagitis - a disease in which gastric juice from the stomach moves in the opposite direction - into the esophagus, causing it to become inflamed. The change in gastric motility in the opposite direction symbolically expressed the patient’s desire to play back important events in her life.

Another patient experienced her husband’s infidelity for two years; their intimate life disappeared and her husband “shied away” from her. Eventually, she began to feel “untouchable.” As a result, she developed neurodermatitis.

Classic psychosomatic diseases include: bronchial asthma, nonspecific ulcerative colitis, essential hypertension, neurodermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers.

Currently, this list has expanded significantly - from coronary heart disease to some infectious diseases and oncology. Psychosomatic syndromes also include functional syndromes, such as irritable bowel syndrome, arrhythmias, as well as conversion syndromes, such as psychogenic blindness, deafness, psychogenic paralysis, etc.

Psychiatrist Anton Yezhov talks about accidents and related bodily injuries in the article: Psychosomatics of accidents (editor's note)

Causes of psychosomatic diseases

Treatment of psychosomatic diseases

I will give an example of treatment from my practice

As a child, the patient's mother beat and scolded her, and she promised herself that she would never hurt her children. After spanking her daughter, she felt even more guilty. The next morning stomatitis appeared.

During the consultation, we agreed that stomatitis is a reaction to the experience of anger and guilt associated with the mother's role: her mother's anger towards her, her anger towards her daughter, guilt towards the mother and towards the daughter - all woven into one ball .

Since the patient was professionally interested in Russian folk tales, she chose a bear as an image symbolizing her anger. During a session of Ericksonian hypnosis, in a trance state, she saw this bear in her imagination and played with it. At the next session, the patient “saw” herself in the cinema auditorium. A forest clearing was visible on the screen, her mother stood in the clearing, and opposite her mother she was a little girl, and between them was a bear. He blocked her from her mother and beat her with his paws. At the same time, the patient experienced a storm of feelings, she was “shaking.” Probably, during this session there was a reaction and transformation of her accumulated anger towards her mother.

After this session, stomatitis no longer bothered the patient, whose well-being was subsequently monitored for seven years. (This patient is also mentioned in the article “Panic attacks” - cases from practice). The text contains an authentic drawing of the patient, made by her after the session.