Emotions affects body defenses

Fear causes the heart to beat faster and produces other temporary reactions, designed to get the body ready for action, either to run or to fight. It's when fear or other emotional tension is prolonged or repeated very frequently that it can have a debilitating effect on body organs. It is hardly surprising that about half of all people seeking medical help-according to some estimates, even 75 percent-have ailments either produced or made worse by emotional factors. 

We shall examine in the next chapter the kinds of emotional stresses that most commonly bring on physical symptoms. But it is important to emphasize something here: No patient, and no doctor, should blithely make a diagnosis of psychosomatic illness, or "nerves." No wise physician does. Psychosomatic problems are common, but to assume that emotions explain everything in an individual case is to risk serious consequences. Even when the emotional problems seem clearly to be the kind that could produce a physical complaint, the emotions may actually be stemming from the complaint.

They may, in fact, be the first indication of a developing physical disease. Restlessness, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite may stem from an emotional disturbance, but they may also result from a yet-undiagnosed heart condition. Systemic or central nervous system infections can pre- sent themselves as severe behavior disorders. Even helpful medicines such as cortisone may produce mental disturbances. 

Traditionally, a diagnosis of psychosomatic illness is a diagnosis of exclusion-a process in which other likely possibilities are carefully considered and found not applicable, leaving emotion as the culprit. The physician notes the symptoms, makes a physical examination, may order some basic and special laboratory and x-ray studies. Only when he has satisfied himself that, for example, the chest pain is not due to actual heart disease or that the episodes of abdominal pain and vomiting are not produced by gallstones or other physical causes does he feel justified in considering an emotional explanation. 

There is always the danger that an organic problem-an overactive or underactive thyroid, underactive adrenal glands, diabetes, possibly even a brain tumor-may pass unnoted if a full history, thorough examination, and supporting clinical studies are not meticulously executed.

In such cases, as soon as the organic problem has been solved, the emotional symptoms disappear. What, then, can you carry away from this discussion? First, the emotional problems are commonly involved in physical difficulties. Often, they are the cause of the physical illness. At other times, they may not be the prime cause but an accentuating factor. At still other times, the emotional disturbances may be the result of the physical problem. 

Thus, there should never be a blithe assumption that any physical complaint is entirely psychosomatic; there should be a medical study to determine whether it is. Second, if the diagnosis is psychosomatic, it should be accepted grate- fully, not shamefully. Much can be done about overcoming the problem, as we shall see.