psychosomatic illnesses

Many psychosomatic illnesses reflect, symbolically, the underlying emotional problem. A child traumatized because of poor feeding by his mother may, as a man, experience chronic stomach troubles; a boastful but insecure actor may develop mouth ulcers which keep him from having to perform; a wife whose husband threatens to leave her may develop crippling arthritis. From a technical standpoint, psychosomatic illness involves a disorder of some involuntary function, such as blood pressure, heart rate, digestion, which the individual is unable to control at, will. When some function of the voluntary system, which normally responds to commands, is impaired, the condition is called a conversion reaction. Examples include paralysis of limbs by deep psychological shock sometimes seen in soldiers in battle and even loss of vision when the victim sees a friend killed on the battlefield.

Neuroses Neurotics, unlike people with psychosomatic problems, usually do not develop clear-cut, tangible physical symptoms such as headaches or palpitations. Their problems have to do with their feelings. If, occasionally, you leave home and have a feeling that you forgot to shut off the water in the kitchen sink or to turn off lights, and if you really believe you didn't forget and yet go back to check and make certain, you are not being abnormal. But neurotics can be continually bothered by such false alarms which use up their energy, hinder their efforts to work and lead normal lives, and fill them with a nameless dread.

Typically, a neurotic person doesn't know the source of his misery. Other people may be as worried or frightened but they can usually point to understandable reasons. The neurotic cannot. He worries when no worry seems called for, frets even in circumstances that should be relaxing. His behavior is not so much bizarre as inappropriate or exaggerated. It doesn't fit the apparent circumstances. For example, a neurotic person, upon receiving a promotion, may feel glum instead of joyful. Where a normal person may be somewhat apprehensive about looking down from great heights or riding elevators, a neurotic may have phobias about these which terrify him.