What diseases are psychosomatic?

The list of diseases of a psychosomatic nature is very large and varied, but it can be grouped as follows:

• Respiratory diseases (hyperventilation syndrome, bronchial asthma);
• Cardiovascular diseases (coronary heart disease, vegetative vascular dystonia, essential hypertension, myocardial infarction, cardiophobic neurosis, heart rhythm disorders);
• Food psychosomatics (anorexia nervosa, obesity, bulimia);
• Diseases of the digestive system (duodenal and stomach ulcers, emotional diarrhea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, etc.);
• Skin diseases (skin itching, urticaria, atopic neurodermatitis, etc.);
• Endocrinological diseases (hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, diabetes);
• Gynecological diseases (dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, functional sterility, etc.).
• Psycho-vegetative syndromes;
• Diseases related to the functioning of the musculoskeletal system (rheumatic diseases);
• Headaches (migraine);
• Depressions;
• Infectious diseases;
• Oncology.

What is psychosomatics and psychosomatic disorders

Psychosomatics (from Greek ψυχή - soul and σῶμα - body), psychosomatic medicine is a branch of medical psychology that studies the influence of psychological factors on the occurrence, course and outcome of somatic (body) diseases. According to estimates of representatives of psychosomatic medicine in the XXI century, approximately 80% of diseases have a psychogenic nature.

Emotions (from the Latin word emoveo - to shock, to excite) are subjective reactions of humans and higher animals to any external and internal stimuli. Emotions accompany all processes of human activity and can be caused by situations or events that exist only in our imagination.

Scientists from different countries, studying the influence of emotions on human health, have come to very interesting conclusions. Thus, the famous English neurophysiologist Charles Sherrington, a Nobel Prize winner, established the following pattern: the first emotional experience occurs, followed by vegetative and somatic changes in the body.

How do emotions cause diseases in the body?

Any negative emotion that a person experiences over a long period of time creates a strong arousal in the cerebral cortex. This excitement dominates all activities. Feelings take on a sharply pronounced negative coloring. Impulses through the autonomic nervous system go to the heart, and it increases its activity, to the vessels, and they increase their tone, to the muscles, and they acquire the ability to develop more force in contraction.

But that's not all. Nutrients are necessary for the increased activity of the muscular system. Therefore, the activity of the endocrine glands changes: the production of adrenaline and noradrenaline increases, the adrenal cortex many times increases the production and release into the blood of hormones called glucocorticoids. The result is a vicious circle. Negative emotion causes hormonal (and other) shifts. An excess of adrenaline, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and glucocorticoids delays this emotion (fear, anxiety, anger) and does not let the psyche get rid of it. Normally this circle is liquidated rather quickly - self-regulation systems kick in.

If negative emotions exist and persist for a long time, it becomes difficult to return to normality. Regulatory mechanisms break down, vascular and other systems of the body get an additional load, work on unbearable modes. And then there are psychosomatic diseases, with which people go to the doctors.

Practice shows that not even strong or prolonged negative psychological affects can cause physical illnesses. The list of diseases that can be caused by psychological causes is constantly growing. At the beginning of the page you have seen a list of the most common diseases that have a psychosomatic nature. This list is not definitive and practically any disease, under certain conditions, can arise under the influence of emotions or insufficient development of one or another quality of personality.