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YOUR MIND AND YOUR EMOTIONS: PSYCHOSOMATIC ILLNESSES
Psychosomatic illnesses result from the interaction of the mind and the body. They usually affect only those parts of the body under the control of the involuntary nervous system, such as the digestive tract, the endocrine glands, the heart, the lungs, the bladder, and the skin.
I can best illustrate this by describing an ulcer of the stomach. When food is present in the stomach, digestive juices are produced to digest it. However, certain emotional reactions can also stimulate the flow of these juices. If there is no food in the stomach, the acid juices may irritate the stomach itself and sometimes eventually cause an ulcer, or open sore. It is important to remember that this ulcer exists as an organic disease of the stomach. Unless it is treated by medicine and diet, it may cause a haemorrhage, or it may perforate. However, if the emotional tension is not relieved, the person will not be giving his ulcer its best chance to heal. Of course, he will have to continue his diet and medicine to avoid getting another ulcer. Thus, psychosomatic diseases require treatment of both the body and the mind.
Less dramatic, but at least as important as these diseases in its effects on the body, is everyday stress. When you have to make a physical or emotional effort beyond what is usual for you, you are under stress. Stress can be so serious that a mere tendency to illness may develop into an active health problem, or new illnesses may result. An inadequate education, lack of spare time, lack of privacy, severe pressure on the job—all are stress situations that can affect the body.
In our complex society, it is not possible to remove all causes of stress. It is not desirable, cither, because some degree of stress is often necessary if we are to accomplish specific goals or protect ourselves from danger. The body has many ways of adapting itself to difficult situations, such as increasing the output of the adrenal glands, changing the blood-sugar level, or adjusting the digestive tract. But when a part of the body is overwhelmed by stress and cannot react as it should, or over-reacts, then the resulting ailment is psychosomatic.
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