Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 2158

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"psychosomatic" - clinicians' opinions/comments?

Posted by Elizabeth on January 8, 1999, at 14:06:24

What exactly is meant in medicine when a symptom is said to be "psychosomatic?"

 

Re: "psychosomatic" - clinicians' opinions/comments?

Posted by pej on January 8, 1999, at 21:34:11

In reply to "psychosomatic" - clinicians' opinions/comments?, posted by Elizabeth on January 8, 1999, at 14:06:24

> What exactly is meant in medicine when a symptom is said to be "psychosomatic?"


>>Bodily symtoms caused by mental or emotional disturbence...or, involving both mind and body.

 

Re: "psychosomatic" - clinicians' opinions/comments?

Posted by alan on January 9, 1999, at 4:22:51

In reply to Re: "psychosomatic" - clinicians' opinions/comments?, posted by pej on January 8, 1999, at 21:34:11

> > What exactly is meant in medicine when a symptom is said to be "psychosomatic?"
>
> >>Bodily symtoms caused by mental or emotional disturbence...or, involving both mind and body.

Nine times out of ten, "psychosomatic' is used to mean that the doctor does not know what is wrong; he thus infers that the mind ("the ghost in the machine") is perversely making trouble for the body (perhaps by giving the pineal gland a little wiggle). Or the symptom may be due to a stress response wherein cortisol and such does bad things; and maybe the stress response is due (in part) to irrational beliefs and other states of the brain to which can be ascribed "content", i.e.' say, meaning. Sometimes they mean the symptom is an action performed by the patient for a reason, usually a reason the patient is unaware of. Sometimes, all they mean is that if you relax, the symptom will go away. In other words, it means very little.

 

Psyche=mind; Soma=sleep. {more}

Posted by racer on January 13, 1999, at 1:32:54

In reply to "psychosomatic" - clinicians' opinions/comments?, posted by Elizabeth on January 8, 1999, at 14:06:24

Basically, it means that it's coming from your mind without your being consciously aware of it. It can be meaningful, but it can also mean that the doctor is writing off a symptom. (For instance, I was once hospitalized for a "psychosomatic" bladder infection: by that time the very real infection had moved to my kidneys and almost killed me! The doctor had missed the infection in tests, but it was there.)

Hope that helps.

 

Re: "psychosomatic" - elaboration

Posted by Elizabeth on January 18, 1999, at 6:58:52

In reply to "psychosomatic" - clinicians' opinions/comments?, posted by Elizabeth on January 8, 1999, at 14:06:24

I know what the word means literally, silly racer. :)

I guess what I'm curious about is, is a distinction made between conditions like heart disease that can be affected by "psychological" [sic] factors (stress, etc.) but which have the same end result regardless of whether stress was involved, and "hysterical" conditions like pseudoseizures that don't turn up the kind of lab results you would expect from the medical condition they imitate? Are both of these considered "psychosomatic?"

Due to its use in common parlance, the word has become rather loaded so I'm not fond of it (sorta like "addiction"), but I would like to know if it has a real meaning other than the various ways it is used colloquially.

BTW Alan, I liked your response. The phrase that I tend to hear is "it's just anxiety." (see http://www.mit.edu/people/shapere/Humour/hysteric.html for an amusing story about this.)

 

Re: Psyche=mind; Soma=sleep. {more}

Posted by Elizabeth on January 18, 1999, at 7:10:45

In reply to Psyche=mind; Soma=sleep. {more}, posted by racer on January 13, 1999, at 1:32:54

> Basically, it means that it's coming from your mind without your being consciously aware of it. It can be meaningful, but it can also mean that the doctor is writing off a symptom. (For instance, I was once hospitalized for a "psychosomatic" bladder infection: by that time the very real infection had moved to my kidneys and almost killed me! The doctor had missed the infection in tests, but it was there.)
> Hope that helps.

"Soma" is actually Greek for "body." ("Hypnos" is sleep.)

The use of the word "psychosomatic" in the way you describe (where the doctors use the patient's anxiety as a rationalization for blaming the patient for his illness when in reality the doctors just haven't done adequate testing) is the kind of thing that annoys me (to put it mildly). Even though psychoanalytic therapy is out of fashion, there's still an assumption in a lot of people's minds (even doctors) that "repressed emotions" and "unconscious conflict" and such (unproven, and impossible to prove) can make people ill (and that such illness doesn't require real treatment).

I remember once when I was in a partial hospital program for mood disorders, I was having trouble holding down food. Rather than try to help me, though, the doctors said that it was caused by anxiety. (Despite the behavioral orientation of that program, they didn't try to help me fix the problem through psychological means, even.) And this was at what is supposedly one of the best psych hospitals in the country...if that's the best, I'd hate to see the worst! (A friend of mine is now in a substance abuse program there and is having just as hard a time. *sigh*)


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