In the long history of psychosomatic medicine, a large part of the scientific community (among them doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists) has been able to demonstrate the mind-body connection in their research. Among them, the psychiatrist Henry Maudsley, who back in 1870 already indicated that “Mental disorders are neither more nor less than nervous diseases in which mental symptoms predominate, and all their separation from other nervous diseases has been a sad obstacle to Progress …”. However, for a large majority of people, and even quite a few health professionals, there is a stigma attached to psychology-related disorders. Today there is a “shame” or disbelief associated with the idea that psychological symptoms may be influencing a physical illness, which leads to a delay in requesting adequate medical help and as a consequence the aggravation or chronicity of the affectation.
MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN AND ITS TREATMENT
One of the increasingly widespread physical ailments among the population is the whole variety of muscular problems, arthritis, pain in different places, which include the back, neck, knees or carpal tunnel syndrome (very fashionable especially since the advent of computers), including all kinds of physical processes resulting from non-infectious inflammatory processes. The offices of rheumatologists and traumatologists are full of people who come with any of these conditions and although a large part of them achieve improvement, they frequently do not achieve complete and definitive remission, incurring expensive and lengthy treatments. Despite having been shown, over decades in many different investigations, that up to 85% of cases of pain in the lower back have no clear cause, and that the structure is not a predictor of pain, the conventional interpretation continues to attribute pain solely to structural abnormalities. And, based on this diagnosis, the most commonly applied treatment continues to be a purely physical one without taking into account the psychological history of the patient. In a large number of cases, the pain disappears from the treated area and appears in some other part of the body, so the person will chain one treatment after another, installing a feeling of incapacity to be able to lead a normal life again. as well as despair.
WHAT DO PATIENTS WITH THESE DISORDERS HAVE IN COMMON?
Medical research focused on the mind-body connection has found common factors in patients suffering from musculoskeletal pain: having belonged to a dysfunctional family, with alcoholism problems, abuse, and/or children of divorced couples. However, a large part of them also come from families with loving and hard-working parents, with high expectations and hopes for their children. It has been found that the latter have in common that they often have problems making decisions, they are afraid of disappointing someone or they tend to set goals that are too high, they find it difficult to find a way out when they find themselves in a difficult situation, they take on responsibilities too much seriously and forget about the space for fun. They tend to be hard on themselves, they feel disappointed or outraged by their “defects”, trying to do everything as well as possible, with a clear tendency towards perfectionism as well as pleasing others above their needs, and it is not uncommon to find patients with a very hurt self-esteem. According to the research carried out, it seems that there are clear indications of the presence of a significant emotional charge together with the presence of physical pain, which could be influencing or aggravating it. If when we feel embarrassed, there is a physical reaction of facial flushing of the cheeks whereby that feeling somehow stimulates the blood vessels to dilate, why can’t there be a connection between the negative emotional state , for example of anger, and the appearance and/or maintenance of pain in the body?
BODY-MIND CONNECTION
The mind-body connection has been widely demonstrated in different medical investigations for more than a century. To mention an example, the numerous studies on stress and how this, in its chronic form, produces changes in the telomeres, specific areas of the chromosomes related to cell longevity and aging. So, if there is clear evidence of the relationship between the person’s psychological situation and the physical situation, what is the reason for not including these emotional factors as another possible cause in medical evaluations and diagnoses? Why continue to deny the evidence and thereby lead patients to incorrect diagnosis and treatment?
“The sadness that finds no outlet in tears can make other organs cry” (Mausley, 1918. Extract from the Journal of Mental Science article).