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Psychosomatic illness is when the mind influences or creates bodily disease, and while it is difficult to define, it is a real condition. The mind can strongly influence the health and well-being of the body, resulting in a greater risk for many different forms of disease. Treatment is best when everyone involved tries to keep an open mind.
Psychosomatic is a term that combines the words mind (psycho) and body (soma). It is often combined with the term disease, which refers to the mind influencing or perhaps creating bodily disease. The word is slippery to define, at best, given the differing perceptions of the origin of the disease. For some, any disease influenced by the mind indicates neurosis. Others believe that all disease is to some extent psychosomatic and that physicians should be particularly aware of the mind/body connection when practicing medicine.
One thing that should be made abundantly clear is that psychosomatic illness is very real. To dismiss a person as insane because he has a disease that cannot be diagnosed by traditional medical methods is extremely futile. Whether a person experiences hysterical pregnancy, blindness, extreme pain, or a host of other conditions, simply dismissing these symptoms as caused by the mind does nothing to get to the root of the problem. Also, with new medical discoveries occurring on a regular basis, some conditions that have always been thought of as driven solely by the mind, have now been found to have an actual medical cause. Many patients strongly advocate that doctors keep an open mind before determining that an illness is an indication of an unhealthy mind.
On the other hand, it is becoming very clear in the medical literature that there are many cases of psychosomatic admixture in the disease. Chronic stress, for example, can cause things like high blood pressure, high risk of heart disease, trouble sleeping, gastrointestinal reflux, spastic colon, and many other conditions. The mind can strongly influence the health and well-being of the body, resulting in a much greater risk for many different forms of disease. A cluttered mind can also make poorer choices about diet, exercise, smoking or alcohol that increase the risk of a number of lifestyle-related diseases.
It is still difficult to understand why some individuals suddenly develop dramatic illnesses that appear to have no medical cause. Psychosomatic illness that creates sudden extremely pronounced symptoms such as blindness or severe pain is very difficult to treat. Just as the doctor may wish to dismiss this illness as a mental illness, the patient may cling to the hope that such a diagnosis will not occur. This can lead to failures on both sides, with the patient not compliant with treatment and the clinician failing to acknowledge the emotional distress of the patient’s situation.
There are doctors who specialize in psychosomatic conditions, and this field is also the province of specialists such as psychiatrists and mental health experts such as psychotherapists. In order to successfully treat a psychosomatic condition, strong partnerships must be created between the doctor/psychotherapist and the patient. With an unclear sense of how the mind/body connection works, treatment is best when everyone involved tries to keep an open mind.
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