psychosomatic illness

psychosomatic illness.

See psychophysiologic disorder.

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illness [il´nes]

disease.

folk illness the experience of symptoms that are not identifiable with biomedical categories of disease; causes include natural forces, supernatural factors, interpersonal factors, and emotions. An example is susto, which is a Hispanic term for fright caused by a traumatic experience. Symptoms include listlessness, loss of appetite, and withdrawal. Curanderos (folk healers) treat the illness with prayers, rituals, and laying on of hands.

psychosomatic illness somatoform disorder.

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psychosomatic [si″ko-so-mat´ik]

pertaining to the interrelations of mind and body; having bodily symptoms of psychic, emotional, or mental origin.

psychosomatic disorder (psychosomatic illness) a disorder in which the physical symptoms are caused or exacerbated by psychological factors, such as migraine headache, lower back pain, or irritable bowel syndrome; see also somatoform disorders. It is now recognized that emotional factors play a role in the development of nearly all organic illnesses and that the physical symptoms experienced by the patient are related to many interdependent factors, including psychological and cultural. The physical manifestations of an illness, unless caused by mechanical trauma, cannot be divorced from a person's emotional life. Each person responds in a unique way to stress; emotions affect one's sensitivity to trauma and to irritating elements in the environment, susceptibility to infection, and ability to recover from the effects of illness. Physical conditions to which psychological factors are shown to be contributory are currently classified as psychological factors affecting medical condition. Any physical condition can be so classified, but the most frequently included are asthma, peptic ulcer, bowel disorders, cardiovascular disorders, arthritis, allergy, headache, and certain endocrine disorders. In recent years there has been some success in using behavior therapy to treat these and other illnesses whose symptoms are related to the autonomic nervous system. Clients are taught new ways of coping with stress and new patterns of behavior. Among the techniques used are biofeedback, relaxation training, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning using social and material reinforcement.