The Causes Of Psychosomatic Reactions

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

In this article, we will look at the main causes of psychosomatic reactions.

The first, and the easiest to work with, is psychotrauma

It occurs when our body is exposed to negative external influences (physical or mental), which our brain perceives as dangerous and threatening the normal functioning of the body itself. The threat, in reality, can be both real and imaginary, but the point is that our psyche perceived it as real and took appropriate protective measures, turned on all possible defensive mechanisms.

For example, a child received a severe burn in childhood, or was bitten by a dog - this is an example of a real threat, a real impact. But if the dog did not bite, but very much frightened, then the threat will be imaginary, not real, but, nevertheless, the psyche will perceive it as real.

In the case of psychotrauma, defense mechanisms are activated not only at the level of the psyche, but also at the level of physics - the body reflexively strains, preparing to repel the "attack". Usually, you can observe various bodily reactions: freezing, the desire to hide, attack, and so on. But they are always based on tension.

If the traumatic event passes safely, then the psyche turns off its defense mechanisms, and the body relaxes without any special consequences. For example, the dog barked loudly, the child got scared, but a significant adult, for example, the father, intervened in the situation, and the dog retreated. The child felt safe, protected and relaxed, the trauma was not formed, the dangerous situation passed without consequences.

However, if a traumatic event has consequences or an exit from it for various reasons becomes impossible for a person, then the tension persists and the body, like the psyche, begins to malfunction.

The second, most common cause of psychosomatic reactions is systematic negative impact

In this case, each separately taken effect does not resemble psychotrauma in intensity, but it is repeated several times with a certain regularity. Thus, the traumatic effect accumulates over time, and the body “freezes” in tension, which, in turn, causes psychosomatic reactions.

An example is communication with a despot boss who violates boundaries in every possible way: he constantly shouts, blames his subordinate, who, in response to his behavior, cannot answer, defend his position, because he is afraid of losing his job, and, therefore, is in constant stress.

These reasons are quite common in our daily life and lead to psychosomatic reactions. If we do not eliminate them, do not work with traumatic events, then we run the risk of admitting various kinds of diseases of varying degrees of severity. And the longer and higher the intensity of exposure, the stronger and brighter the manifestation of the disease.

But it is worth remembering that our body has all the necessary resources for recovery, they are practically inexhaustible. All we have to do is observe and notice what is happening to him, help him in time. And in this case, our first task is to eliminate the causes of psychosomatic reactions.