Psychosomatic Theory

By Juan Moisés De La Serna

Preface

Emotions are a source of life and pleasure, but when they acquire certain negative nuances and become chronic, they can contribute to the appearance of psychosomatic disorders.

These disorders are more frequent than one might imagine, especially because there is a great lack of understanding in the individual's overall health, how to preserve it and how to take care of it.

This text is presented as a first approach to the subject of psychosomatic disorders from a theoretical perspective.

Objective:

The aim of this book is to serve as a first approach to psychosomatic medicine, focusing on the explanatory theories of its origin and its "function".

A text to bring the reader closer to one of the most important challenges that medicine has taken on halfway through psychology, the psychosomatic disorders.

Target audience:

- Health practitioners who want to delve deeper into the effects of emotions on health

- People suffering from psychosomatic disorders and to their families, so that they can learn in depth about this new perspective of the disorder

- Anyone interested in learning how emotions can affect health and how to approach treatment from a holistic point of view

Topic

- Psychosomatic Approach and Psychosomatic Disorders

This section covers the origin of the explanatory theories on the psychosomatic approach, and what type of disorders are included from this perspective.

- The Psychosomatic Personality

In this section is analyzed the origin of personality, its formation over time and the health problems of an "inadequate" personality.  

- Approach to Psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNEI)

Considered as the last great contribution of health science, this approach poses a model for overcoming the limitations of medicine and psychology, which only provide a limited view of psychosomatic disorders. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Apr 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781547573950

Book preview

CHAPTER 1.  THE PSYCHOSOMATIC APPROACH

The very first thing that needs to be noted is that the psychosomatic approach to illnesses is not exclusive to an isolated discipline, but is nourished by the advances made both in the area of medicine and psychology.

In order to do this, it is necessary to establish this differentiation among these three disciplines, which are in charge of health in the individual from their perspective. The main difference is precisely where the spotlight is placed, both in determining the origin and the intervention to be performed.

From the medical field up to the late 16th century, the somatic tradition of diseases and their treatment has been preserved. This tradition was found in the postulates of the Greek physician Galen, who ruled out any disease that could not be observed, that is to say, he only considered as diseases those that had a real and objective biological basis.

In spite of advances in anatomopathology, physiopathology and etiopathogeny, the intervention of the psychic in the development of illnesses became more and more evident, but it was not until the end of the 19th century that distinguished physicians became interested in phenomena such as neurosis or hysteria, and terms such as somatization disorder or dynamic injury emerged.

Based on these contributions, and overcoming the reticence of the postures that still defended biological reductionism, aspects relating to the subjective experience of the patient in both diagnosis and treatment have progressively been incorporated into medical practice.

Despite progress in identifying the interdependency between psyche and soma, there is still at present a clear underestimation of psychological aspects in the medical field, as reflected in the distinction between the medical terms signs and symptoms:

- Signs,

refers to objective data collected directly by the physician on the individual's health status i.e. a reduced number of leukocytes in the blood as a result of an analysis; alteration in the P wave according to the ECG; or the presence of senile plaques and neurofibrillary evidenced by a CAT scan (Computerized Axial Tomography).

- Symptoms,

on the other hand, are the subjective manifestation of an individual regarding a malfunction of his organism. It would be equivalent to the grievances or ailments expressed by the patient about his illness, as well as the perceived intensity of discomfort or pain.

When completing the medical history to determine whether the patient presents a clinical picture, the significance of the signs is decisive in relation to that of the symptoms, which are taken into consideration as indicators to be explored, without diagnostic significance by themselves.

From the fields of Psychology -specifically from Clinical Psychology- the person is conceptualized as a dual entity, formed by a physical body and an immaterial mind -theory defended from the rationalism of Descartes who established the same differentiation between what he called Res Extensa (the physical world) and Res Cogitans (the cognitive or mental world) - stance that, with its followers and detractors, has lasted until today.

Despite being a relatively young science with a little more than 100 years of development, psychology has found its area of study precisely in the field of individuals' subjectivity. Thoughts, emotions and personal experiences are the scope of psychology. Clinical Psychology deals specifically with disorders related to the patients' thoughts, emotions and behaviours. The symptoms in this field play a major role both in the diagnosis as in the treatment of mental illnesses.

This division of the fields of application between the biological and the psychological has led to a separate evolution in terms of techniques and methods of assessment and intervention.

- Medicine,

which focuses on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases, mainly of biological origin, has been improving various diagnostic techniques together with technological advances, such as the MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) or PET (Positron-emission Tomography), as well as interventions that range from the traditional potions and ointments originally used to give the body some time to recover from an infection to the contemporary technological advances such as laser surgery or noninvasive radiofrequency treatments.

- Clinical Psychology,

on the other hand, has developed a wide variety of evaluation techniques, ranging from the first semi-structured interviews, through projective tests -perhaps the best known is the Rorschach test- to the current psychometric tests validated and standardized for patients. Once the proper diagnosis has been established, the psychologist has a range of therapeutic intervention techniques at his disposal. These techniques can be cognitive, behavioral or relational in nature and can be applied individually or in a group depending on the mental disorder that will be treated.

- The Psychosomatic Approach,

has emerged in parallel to the other two mentioned before as a third way -considered by some as a specialty of medicine called psychosomatic medicine- which changes the idea that diseases originate from the physical (in the case of medicine) or from the psyche (in the case of psychology). This new approach not only considers the two previous ones but also benefits from their