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.
