Psychosomatic Disorders: Emotions Can Affect The Body
When you are anxious, do you get stomach aches and headaches? Or maybe you get cramps? And what about when you’re angry? It is easy to see that our emotions are closely related to physical pain. This applies to psychosomatic disorders.
These are physical disorders that stem from (or develop due to) psychological factors. Learn more about how important it is for the body that you can handle your emotions!
Why do emotions affect psychosomatic disorders?
Emotions manifest themselves through a three-part response system: the cognitive, physiological, and motor. The cognitive system is about the thoughts we have when we experience different thoughts.
An example is when anger builds and we get the following thoughts: “ They’re trying to annoy me,” “I can not believe they’re doing this to me,” etc. But this inner dialogue is completely different when we are sad .
The motor system is the set of behaviors we use depending on the emotions we experience. When we are afraid, we try to protect ourselves or escape. The behavior is obviously different when we are happy.
The physiological system consists of the sensations that occur in the body. Physiologically speaking, there are emotions that activate us to some degree. Just like there are others who disable us to some degree.
Anxiety, for example, is an emotion that greatly physiologically activates us. It increases the heart rate and makes us breathe faster.
How do anxiety and anger affect psychosomatic disorders?
There are many psychosomatic disorders. E.g:
- Cardiovascular (high blood pressure)
- Respiratory (bronchial asthma)
- Endocrine (diabetes)
- Gastrointestinal (gastric ulcer)
- Dermatological (hives)
- Immunological
- Chronic pain (rheumatoid arthritis)
These are just a few examples. The physiology and emotions are closely linked. This is especially true of anxiety and anger.
Both anxiety and anger can lead to a high level of physiological activation. Muscle tension, hyperventilation and increased heart rate are just a few of the physiological symptoms.
To begin with, the body does so to deal with the danger it assumes has created these emotions. Therefore, it is not a direct “bad” activation.
The problem is when we feel these emotions very intensely, very often or for a long time at a time. In this case, our body remains in a state of tension no matter how we handle the “danger.” It should instead disappear once we have acted.
But since it does not disappear, then our organs become overused and begin to function differently.
How do physical symptoms affect this process?
Everything we have talked about so far leads us to one conclusion: that our handling of negative emotions depends on how we perceive and interpret different situations.
If we come up with flexible (healthy) solutions, then we will be able to prevent our body from activating these symptoms. In this way, we reduce the risk of psychosomatic disorders.
The same thing happens when there is a physical disorder in itself. There are a few flexible solutions: the patient may be convinced that it is not serious. He knows it’s serious, but wants to fight because he’s convinced there is hope. Maybe he knows it’s serious, but decides to live life as well as possible.
If you choose one of the three options, then you can prevent anxiety and anger from triggering psychosomatic disorders. It will not be easy, but with the help of a good psychologist it is possible to achieve.
Photos by David Cohen, Benjamin Combs and Milada Vigerova
