Psychosomatic illness

S. Levine, L. Goldman and G. D. Coover, "Physiology, Emotion and Psychosomatic Illness", Assoc. Scientific Publishers, Amsterdam, North Holland, 1972, pp. 281-296. 

Stephen E. Ross, also writing in t c Annals of Internal Medicine, explains Memes are infectious agents in psychosomatic illness. What is a meme It is a virulent idea... [that] can be found at the core of these diverse disorders... such disease conceptions, which 1 [Ross] term psychosomatic memes, act as transmissible templates.If we let doctors make up diagnoses and infectious agents out of whole cloth, why not let patients make up diseases out of symptoms ... 

S. E. Ross, Mernes as infectious agents in psychosomatic illness, "Annals of Internal Medicine, 131 867—871,1999. 

Indications Clinical uses include treatment of epileptic seizures and as a component of anesthesia. Benzodiazepines are usually preferred to barbiturates for treatment of anxiety. Antipsychotics are preferred for treatment of neurotic states. Indications Generally, benzodiazepines are used for treatment of anxiety and neurotic states, nervous tension, agitation, psychosomatic illness, delerium tremens. Also used for skeletal muscle relaxant, anticonvulsant, and sedative properties. Diazepam is the benzodiazepine of choice for muscle relaxation and intractable seizures. 

Initially, the effects of stress may result in psychosomatic illness, but with continued stress, the symptoms eventually show up as an actual organic dysfunction. Continual or persistent stress has been linked to common physiological problems like colitis and gastric or duodenal ulcers. The harmful effects of stress can be reversed until the body s limit is reached. Stress continuing beyond the individual s limit results in disease. Psychosomatic diseases such as gastric ulcers, colitis, rashes, and autoimmune disorders may begin when the body becomes exhausted and can no longer adapt to stress. 

Bahurav. S.E.W. Investors etal. No. 90CA10594 (D.C. S. Ct. 1995).The jury came to their conclusion with the help of expert witness Abba Terr, who testifies around the country that multiple chemical sensitivity is a psychosomatic illness. 

The archive of postings from the Immune hst has a special section collecting all posts that deal with emotions, mind-body, and child abuse http //www.best.com/ immune/emotiom efs.html. This argument about brain chemistry is also used by those who want to classify mcs as a psychosomatic illness, contending that the brain scans Mcsers use to objectify their illness only prove that emotions have biological effects on the body. 

Shorter, Edward. From Paralysis to Fatigue A History of Psychosomatic Illness in the Modem Era. New York Free Press, 1992. 

Cohen, S., Doyle, W.J., and Skoner, D.R, Psychological stress, cytokine production, and severity of upper respiratory illness, Psychosomat. Med., 61, 175, 1999. 

While the focus of work in the past century has been on the biological and biochemical causes of disease and its treatment, there is another aspect that has received little attention. This is the electrophysiological aspect, and it suffers much from the poor development of theory at a biomolecular level. There is also a further aspect to disease, the psychosomatic. There is much evidence that one can think one s self ill and think one s self well. What is not yet understood is the relation between the electrochemical aspects of disease and the psychosomatic. Are they two sides of the same coin Should not their study be greatly intensified ... 

Monji A, Yoshida I, Tashiro K, Hayashi Y, Tashiro N. A case of persistent manic depressive illness induced by interferon-alfa in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Psychosomatics 1998 39(6) 562-4. 

In the event of a terrorist attack, people will suffer physical and psychological trauma. Physical effects will include the effects of exposure to any explosion—broken bones, burns, shock, lacerations, and so forth. These may be compounded by the presence of radioactive contamination and, in some cases, radiation illness. In addition, any terrorist attack will, by definition, inflict psychological trauma, and medical personnel must be prepared to receive many patients who are worried, panicked, or suffering psychosomatically in spite of being physically well. In the aftermath of a terrorist attack, even a simple headache or anxiety attack may be seen as evidence of radiation sickness. 

The shamanic function also includes a psychoanalytic capability. That the shaman can cure illnesses of a psychological or psychosomatic nature is well established. The shaman is undoubtedly, perhaps essentially, a doctor—but the factual medical knowledge of the primitives is very small the shaman s medical function seems to be confined to psychological, perhaps psychoanalytical techniques, and his successes fall mainly within the psychological domain (Lommel 1967, p. 25). By what exact mechanism he is able to do this is not completely understood. It is as though the sha-... 

Among the weapons to come out of the magical kit bag of the ancient Chinese conjurers were cannabis stalks into which snake-like figures were carved. Armed with these war hammers, they went to do battle with the unseen enemy on his home ground - the sickbed. Standing over the body of the stricken patient, his cannabis stalk poised to strike, the priest pounded the bed and commanded the demon to be gone. If the illness were psychosomatic and the patient had faith in the conjurer, he occasionally recovered. If his problem were organic, he rarely improved. 

Ciccone DS, Natelson BH. Comorbid illness in women with chronic fatigue syndrome A test of the single syndrome hypothesis. Psychosomatic Med 2003 65 268-75. 

After a biological, chemical or radiological attack, patients may present with a variety of mental health responses, including distress responses, behavioral changes, psychosomatic symptoms, including medically unexplained symptoms, psychological symptoms and psychiatric illness, such as PTSD (20). Categories of common mental health responses include (20,21) ... 

The evil eye, envy and fear are not generally recognized as causes of disease in Western medicine. We do not easily believe in such diagnoses and usually label them as naive superstitions. Yet, shamans routinely cure individuals who are genuinely physically ill by working within this frame of reference. In a denotative sense, and quite apart from whatever else it might be, this is psychosomatic medicine, pure and simple, and seems to have more to do with psychiatry than "general practice" -- or does it Where do you draw the line between mind and matter ... 

On the advice of the Committee on the Safety of Medicines (now the Commission on Human Medicines), benzodiazepines are indicated for the short-term relief of anxiety that is severe, disabling or subjecting the individual to unacceptable distress, occurring alone or in association with insomnia or short-term psychosomatic, organic or psychotic illness. 

Steptoe, A. (1991) The links between stress and illness. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 35, 633-644. 

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