What is a Psychosomatic Illness?
The term 'psychosomatic illness' is most widely used to explain a physical illness with a known psychological cause, or at least which is significantly influenced by psychological factors. Many medical professionals acknowledge the influence of emotional factors in heart attack, hypertension, heart disease, stomach ulcers, asthma, eczema, and some other skin complaints. Even those who aren't convinced of a causal role would acknowledge that emotional responses will exacerbate symptoms of these physical problems.
Another way in which the term psychosomatic can be used is to describe the physical symptoms which arise from some mental health conditions. Many of these are associated with disturbances to the autonomic nervous system. Others may arise from other physiological systems.
Many people misconstrue the term 'psychosomatic' thinking that it means someone is feigning their illness or it is imaginary. Psychosomatic illnesses are real illnesses. It can involve germs, organ damage or some other physical factor. The difference is that there is also some involvement of personality or an individual's experiences. From this perspective, you can see that many illnesses could have psychological contributors.
However, psychosomatic illnesses such as those listed above are not the only physical ailments which have underlying psychological components. Indeed, many other physical illnesses which we'll come to later have strong associations with mental health.
Psychological Factors in Accidents and Illness
There is a relationship between psychological factors, physical illness and accidents. For example, people who drink too much are more likely to be involved in road accidents. People who smoke and get lung cancer often have underlying emotional problems which cause them to smoke too much. Young men tend to be more aggressive than older men and are more likely to have accidents and injuries - they account for a higher percentage of road fatalities than other age and gender group.
People who struggle to control their body weight for psychological reasons are at higher risk of coronary heart disease and type II diabetes. We talked about diet in the last chapter. People with a higher salt and higher fat diet are more likely to be at risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. They may eat more salt and fat because they are stressed, which can increase their stress further, which increases their blood pressure, which increases their risk of heart disease and so on. When people feel depressed or sad, they will most likely do something to try and make themselves feel better. They may meditate, exercise, dance or find some other way to enjoy themselves. Others may use more negative means such as drinking, smoking, eating fatty foods, eating sugary foods, or drinking more caffeine. All of these impact upon our physical and mental health.
Accidents are also more common when we are stressed. If you have had a bad day, you will most likely be worried and not focussing and concentrating efficiently. You may be more likely to bump your car or drop a cup. Accidents are also associated with poor levels of sleep and long periods without sleep. In one piece of research, Horne (1992) found that most road accidents happened when a driver had been awake for 18 hours or longer. He suggested that drivers should pull over and take a nap because other remedies such as drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks would only hold off sleep for several minutes. Anyone who doesn't take time out to sleep is susceptible to 'micro-sleeps' where they lose consciousness for several seconds. On the road this can be fatal.
