THE INTERNATIONAL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE NETWORK
CYC-NET REFERENCE LIBRARY
Psychosomatic symptoms
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Fear or fright (whether resulting from a real or imagined threat) is accompanied by bodily reactions (usually mediated by the autonomic nervous system) such as diminished flow of saliva, changes in intestinal mobility, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, etc. So the experience of fear has real psychological and physiological attributes. The bodily (somatic) changes may be more or less intense and sustained, and so may lead to real tissue or organ damage. Also, ongoing "trickle" levels of anxiety can have similar consequences. Thus an anxious or fearful child or adolescent can present with real illnesses which don't seem to have any physical basis. A psychosomatic illness is a condition in which the state of mind (psyche) either causes or mediates a condition of actual, measurable damage in the body (soma). Merck offers: Somatoform disorders: A group of psychiatric disorders characterized by physical symptoms that suggest but are not fully explained by a physical disorder and that cause significant distress or interfere with social, occupational, or other functioning. Somatoform disorder is a relatively new term for what many persons refer to as psychosomatic disorder. In somatoform disorders, either the physical symptoms or their severity and duration cannot be explained by an underlying physical condition. Columbia: Psychosomatic disorder — emotional disturbance that is manifested as a physical disorder, such as childhood ASTHMA, ULCERS, HYPERTENSION, endocrine disturbances, and possibly even HEART DISEASE. In most cases the illness occurs only when there is both a physiological predisposition and psychological stress. With anxious children and young people, the issue of malingering is often confused with that of psychosomatic symptoms. The malingerer is using an imagined or pretended illness to avoid facing up to some demand or reality, perhaps by seeking sympathy and attention, or by making an excuse for not meeting expectations. With such children, rather than being seen merely as "naughty" or "devious", malingering indicates a real problem of anxiety, lack of confidence, etc. There is a thin line between this and the anxiety actually converting into a psychosomatic condition. Readings The following text was recommended by Hugh McIntyre: Chapter entitled Somatic Disorders by Lawrence J. Siegel in The Practice of Child Therapy by Richard J. Morris (Editor), Thomas R. Kratochwill (Editor)
Pschosomatic disorders http://www.thehealthconnection.com/Disease%20Center/diseases/psychosom.asp Input
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