Stress Psychosomatic Diseases

People have died or have become ill from severe stress.

Psychosomatic Diseases and Stress

People have died or have become ill from severe stress, when there seems nothing physically wrong with them. Some illnesses are easily seen as being physical, while others are assuredly recognized as being mental, yet it is impossible to deny the interaction between the mind and the body and the effects of one upon the other. The mind makes the body susceptible. These conditions are called psychosomatic.

Psychosomatic disease is not “all in the mind”, contrary to popular belief, but involves both mind and body. Psychosomatic disease is real, can be diagnosed, and is manifested physically. However, it also has a component in the mind, although it is not easily measured. That common cold may be a function of psychological stress, which decreases the effectiveness of the immunological system and results in the body being more vulnerable to cold viruses. That cold may also be caused by psychological stress using up particular vitamins in the body and leading to decreased effectiveness in combating viruses.

Psychogenic refers to a physical disease caused by emotional stress. Asthma is an example of this. Somatogenic psychosomatic disease occurs when the mind increases the body's susceptibility to some disease causing microbes or some natural degenerative process. Examples are rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.

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