Psychomatic Illness

[mypurpleundercracka]

Can anyone explain to me in-depth what a psychosomatic illness is and what its effects are. Im using the Nelson's text book and theres not much on it. Cheers in advance

[moshi]

Psychosomatic illnesses can occur due to stress. This is an illness where the physical symptoms are caused in part or entirely or are worsened by psychological factors.

i also had written down from last year that they tend to appear during the resistance and exhaustion stages of the GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome)

[cns1511]

A psychosomatic illness is a physical illness which generally occurs due to prolonged or extreme psychological factors (such as stress) which can be genetic or due to environmental factors. Sufferers tend to experience pain, nausea, or other physical symptoms, but have no diagnosable physical cause. The symptoms are classified as neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders due to their nature.

This illness usually begins during adolescence and affects females more than males, with few males being diagnosed.

These illnesses are often remain untreated as they are hard to diagnose, while doctors try to find a physical cause for symptoms. Treatment involves finding stressors in the sufferers life and eliminating them, which treats the physical symptoms. Sufferers will have repeated medical examinations and diagnostic tests, which can be dangerous, to find the cause of their symptoms.

Symptoms include; abdominal pain, nausea, painful menstruation in females, erectile dysfunction in males, chronic back pain, sexual indifference, dizziness, chest pain, palpitations, paralysis, blindness and vomiting.

An example of psychosomatic illness is irritable bowel syndrome.

Hope that was useful.

[Eriny]

It's important to note also that although people sometimes equate psychosomatic illness with hypochondria, the symptoms are very real. That they are caused primarily by psychological factors does not undermine their realness. (this is a common mistake to make).