8 ms·

How Worrying Can Actually Make You Sick

128 points by hellofunk 10y ago

petercooper 10y ago
I'm currently enjoying a book called It's All In Your Head by an Irish neurologist called Suzanne O'Sullivan - review at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/07/all-in-your-head-review-o-sullivan-suzanne-osullivan https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/07/all-in-your-he.... Summaries of some of the clinical stories themselves are at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/16/you-think-im-mad-the-truth-about-psychosomatic-illness https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/16/you-think-im... It's mind boggling (no pun intended) how far psychosomatic illness can go, even as far as resulting in blindness, seizures, and paralysis. I was never familiar with the idea of repressed memories and psychological trauma causing physical illness before and initially dismissed it as arm-wavey pseudoscience, but the amount of evidence is striking even if our level of understanding is poor. This also explains why so many people with undiagnosable pain disorders seem to get referred to psychiatrists here in the UK - people misinterpret this as doctors thinking their illness is all imaginary, it's not, but the cause of it often well can be.
- overcast 10y ago
  I'm going to have to check this out. While not affecting my health currently, I definitely worry too much about the outcome of just about everything. Always glass half empty view of things, and I need to change it.
  - Quarrelsome 10y ago
    I recommend trying to be at peace with the worst case scenario. I.E. I used to worry about people stealing my things while I was asleep but then thought through how I would handle all my things being stolen and how hard it would be for someone to steal all my stuff (i.e. they can't take it all). Once I realised I only needed to replace a few key items which were quite affordable and relatively easy I stopped worrying about it. Not sure if that works for everything but I'd figure the uncertainty is often why we worry. Realising that even in the worst case people will be able to muddle along can be a weight off one's mind.
    - Jemmeh 10y ago
      I do this too. "Okay, the worst thing that can happen is XYZ. What would I do if that happened? I'd do ABC. Okay, I know how to handle it. Moving on."
  - Diederich 10y ago
    Stoicism has been useful for me: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/wiki/faq https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/wiki/faq
    - href 10y ago
      For me it was Zen, which I heard is in some ways quite similar to Stoicism. A good start is Alan Watts' "The Way of Zen": https://www.amazon.com/Way-Zen-Alan-W-Watts/dp/0375705104 https://www.amazon.com/Way-Zen-Alan-W-Watts/dp/0375705104
      - hnjm0101 10y ago
        I dunno, maybe I've completely missed the point in his writing, but I just tried reading "The Wisdom of Insecurity" and it seemed like almost complete nonsense to me. There were definitely a few passages that were very insightful, but the other 90% (at least to me) was incoherent rambling.
        href 10y ago
        I didn't mean to recommend Alan Watts in general, though I generally like him. I just think Zen can be a bit hard to get into without some introduction and I consider Watts' decent.
- cesarbs 10y ago
  > It's mind boggling (no pun intended) how far psychosomatic illness can go, even as far as resulting in blindness, seizures, and paralysis. While I don't have physical symptoms as severe as those you listed, that's pretty much how my health anxiety manifests. I don't just have obsessive thoughts over being sick. I actually feel things. And my anxiety is not thoughts -> symptoms, it's the other way around. I start having a bunch of symptoms, give it some time hoping they will go away, but they don't. So I can't help but think something is seriously wrong. There are instances where I've dealt with a set of symptoms for a whole year. A few examples: - When I'm anxious over a brain aneurysm or brain tumor, it's because I started having visual distortions, tingling, my mouth won't widen on one side when I smile, etc. - I was once worried about carotid artery dissection, because I could hear my pulse in one ear and it would stop when I pressed against my carotid on the same side (a telltale sign of CAD). MRIs in the ER revealed nothing. - My heart acts up with PVCs every now and then, and they are so unpleasant that it's nearly impossible not to think I have a serious heart condition. PVCs can be common when people are really anxious or stressed out, but in my case they just come about in my most serene moments it seems. - I start worrying about colon cancer whenever I get alternate bouts of diarrhea and constipation, coupled with frequent abdominal cramps. This particular anxiety gets to the point where I see blood when inspecting my output in the toilet, only for it to disappear when I blink. Mind you, it's not "hm I think that tiny spec might be blood". I actually see streaks of blood when I first look at it. - At some point last year I started having sudden weakness in my right arm. I couldn't hold parts of it flexed, and things just seemed heavier. I was sure I had a degenerative disorder of some sort. But then it just went away after several weeks. I could go on and on and on. It's horrible. Friends and family don't understand me, no matter how much I try to explain to them that I'm not just thinking about being sick (I'm actually trying hard NOT to think about it), but I'm really feeling a whole bunch of stuff. They always revert to "stop thinking about it and it will go away". So frustrating.
  - DenisM 10y ago
    Sorry about your plight, man. How do you cope?
    - cesarbs 10y ago
vivekd 10y ago
>In those 12 years, about 3% of people developed ischemic heart disease—which includes heart attack—but 6% of people who had health anxiety did. “We found there was a surprisingly strong association between levels of health anxiety and the risk of ischemic heart disease,” Berge says. Isn't it more likely that people had anxiety about their health conditions because they were in poor health, and that is why they developed heart disease? This seems like a very poorly constructed study.
- stult 10y ago
  The very next sentence in the article reads: >Even when the researchers controlled for established cardiovascular disease risk factors, they found about a 70% increased risk of ischemic heart disease in the years of followup. Your point isn't invalid, but the authors do seem to have made efforts to address it. Though admittedly it is difficult to evaluate the validity of their controls without reference to the actual study. Generalized anxiety has been shown to be a reliable predictor of coronary heart disease[1], so it doesn't seem like a stretch that the subset of health-related anxieties would as well. [1] See, e.g., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22075746 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22075746
  - Noseshine 10y ago
    I think the problem lies in for established cardiovascular disease risk factors As the great American philosopher D. Rumsfeld once famously pointed out [0], there are known knowns, known unknowns but there also are unknown unknowns :-) So I would not dismiss the argument at this point. Generalized anxiety has been shown to be a reliable predictor of coronary heart disease What the parent said applies here too. A statistical "predictor" isn't a statement about causation. What would need to be shown is a mechanism. How is the brain doing all those things that it is being blamed for? or is it really just sensing something and reacting, instead of causing it as is claimed? Why are so many people in those discussion satisfied as soon as the brain (or something much more fuzzy!) has been "identified" as the actor causing the problem? How is that an explanation for anything? I'm not in the medical field, but I've taken many medical courses, including neuroscience courses (plural, because I found it so interesting). I find those "explanations" baffling to say the least. All I see is that they are just shifting the problem somewhere else and calling it a day, sort of like Douglas Adam's "Somebody Else's Problem (SEP) field" that makes things invisible. [1] Also, that soooo many people take a statistical "prediction" as a real prediction, meaning an established causation, without question, always in similar discussions when people start citing stuff found on PubMed. Statistics is more like blood test measurements: It's a tool, to get a diagnosis you use it - but you don't base your result on it (just because a value is inside or outside some "standard range" doesn't mean much by itself). Not unless it's extreme, in which case you probably don't need statistics to begin with. . [0] Just for the fun and the memories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns and 35 seconds of video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaxqUDd4fiw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaxqUDd4fiw [1] http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Somebody_Else's_Problem_field http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Somebody_Else's_Problem_fi... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_else's_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_else's_problem for the more serious description
mathw 10y ago
I have no trouble believing that your mental state can influence your physical health. It's happened to me repeatedly. Prolonged stress (usually at work) seems to result in my immune system becoming less effective, and I start getting colds, coughs, mild flu-likes and so forth, plus whirly stomach and lots of toilet time. Sure it's all in my head, but the thermometer says it's in my bloodstream too!
- ddmf 10y ago
  Exactly what I've seen after a year implementing software that ultimately failed - probably the worst professional period of my life. During that period I was ok, probably surviving on fight and flight, but since I've had episodes as you describe, although one case with a super high temperature that left me unable to work for 3 days.
- Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
  I have had frequent belching and heartburn problems for many years, often causing insomnia. After a lot of time trying to determine which foods were the cause, I ended up noticing the elephant in the room: food actually matters very little, my (subjective) stress level explains like 90% of the problem... if I'm relaxed (e.g. on vacation) I can eat practically whatever I want without getting problems, if I'm really stressed I'll get them even if I eat like a Spartan. In fact, having a partner is the single best thing that has happened to my stomach and my insomnia. She reduces my stress levels and alleviates the symptoms very noticeably just by being by my side. Sorry if it sounds corny, but for me this is an observable reality. The problem with all this is that, of course, stress is often something outside our control. Knowing what I know I try to keep it at bay as much as possible and take things easier than when I thought it was a food problem, but if there's lots of work and deadlines it's not like you can just wave stress away like you can avoid a given food...
- brbrodude 10y ago
  The brain feels the body and both are affected by the environment(e.g.: if your body is bad and you can't feel pleasure anymore, or it's lowered, how are you gonna have happy thoughts? Same applies to the environment, which is something that seems to be frequently ignored), not only that, stress is a chemical and it acts on both your body and your brain.. is this conclusion a surprise to anyone? Most of the comments here, people seem only capable of introjecting stuff as if the sole reason for stuff has gotta be personal issues(not saying this in a derrogatory manner) or a square diagnosis, this is absurd to me. Maybe it's cause I already came to the conclusion that I'm an ok mostly healthy animal plus gave up trying to fit the artificial into the natural(i.e.: I think our society is rotten. Also, how convenient it is that all problems must be seen as purely individual, huh?). History, classical thought -> good for the brain and body, maybe.
NumberCruncher 10y ago
This are actually good news. If worrying can make you sick then worrying less can make you more healthy. Stop worrying today! Everything will be fine!
- vesak 10y ago
  http://dudeism.com/ http://dudeism.com/
eth0up 10y ago
Sorry, but... Fuck This. I went to my Dr last week because of acute and chronic pain in the testes, ensuing insomnia, etc. He pulled the psychosomatic card and suggested I was manifesting my own problems. I politely argued to no avail, then politely and permanently dismissed him as my doctor. Two days later I visited the ER, where it was confirmed that it certainly wasn't psychosomatic. It may be difficult to understand, but someone who is truly suffering and seeks help only to be told "it's in your head", can very well be the victim of an external psychological disorder, not anxiety. For how many years were innocent and otherwise perfectly healthy people persecuted, neglected, or ridiculed when they complained of stomach pain, i.e. an ulcer? Until Barry Marshall[1] came along and deliberately infected himself with H Pylori to successfully prove the actual cause of most ulcers, probably far too long. I advise that when pointing this self-righteous etiological finger at others, do so cautiously. I know I didn't quit distance running, my job, and adopt a life of sleeplessness to secretly spite myself and binge on artificial misery. - Irritated patient 1. http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/07-dr-drank-broth-gave-ulcer-solved-medical-mystery http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/07-dr-drank-broth-gave-...
- arnoooooo 10y ago
  Not to mention that when conditions are said to be brought on by stress, there is a chicken and egg issue : being in pain causes stress.
- m_fayer 10y ago
  Indeed. What if your body harbors some dormant weakness that originates in some old injury or some unfortunate genes? And so what if it was your divorce that was the last straw, and now that weakness has manifested and is now a Real Problem? Ok doctor, I also wish I wasn't getting divorced and no shit that was stressful, but the resulting digestive/auto-immune/neurological condition that it triggered is real, and that's why I'm here. I sometimes have the feeling that if doctors can in some plausible way blame any non-simple affliction on stress, that's their ticket to victim blame, recommend yoga, and call it a day.
- nickcoury 10y ago
  I think it's unfortunate when people ignore the possibility of psychosomatic symptoms, but even more dangerous when they attribute every issue to it. It should be a tool in the toolbox, a possible explanation/approach to ailments that are sometimes simple and singular but often times complex and multi-faceted. My N=1: I have chronic back issues. At best it's general tightness and fatigue, but can also be sore and painful. In particular I had two incidents in 2011 (in a matter of seconds) and 2012 (over a couple days) where my back spasmed and left me crippled, unable to move without knife-stabbing pains and unable walk down hallways without holding onto a wall. Both lasted almost a month, and were followed by months of heightened soreness. I was 23/24 at the time, with no preexisting health issues. I'm a regular runner and in great health otherwise. I tried to fix this with deep tissue massage and core/strengthening regimens, and largely those helped keep the pain levels down but really only halved the symptoms at best. A friend had been recommending Sarno's 'A Divided Mind' which is all about the psychosomatic diagnosis since the first incident, but I had dismissed it. Finally in 2013, as I felt a new round of the spasms coming, I gave it a shot. Lo and behold, it became the single most effective tool I've found to manage my back issues. I identified that each spasm came with a major emotionally loaded event. In 2011 it was unrealistic pressure to compete at a big running race I had been training for. In 2012 it was participating in the search and rescue for a dear friend who was lost (and died) in the wilderness. In 2013 it was a nasty falling out with my best friend (and brother) at the time. I don't believe the mechanisms are fully understood, and I think Sarno in particular does too much hand waving. But using his approach was the first time in years that I had no discernible back issues. I liken it to getting butterflies in your stomach. Your mind and emotions can trigger physiological changes to blood vessels, nerves, muscles, etc. that in turn can cause real issues. I also don't believe it's the only factor. I started an office job in 2015, and back issues have come back that I attribute 100% to the office lifestyle. I've found no relief with the psychosomatic approach, but do better with a sit/stand desk, breaks, and daily exercise. Overall, I think a ton of people could benefit from approaching health issues from a psychosomatic perspective as one of many possible diagnoses. I also agree there are so many other possibilities that assuming it is always in your head is ignorant, neglectful, and downright dangerous.
shams93 10y ago
In California it's an at will state with unemployment topping out at 900 a month with the highest taxes and rent in the world. People die prematurely here from the extreme level of anxiety imposed on professionals I can't imagine how bad it gets if you have kids but worry is as big a contributor to early death as addiction.
bertr4nd 10y ago
After an extremely stressful half at work, I developed heart palpitations, gastritis, insomnia, and a very distinct vitreous floater. All of these have more or less resolved, except the floater, which, since there's no known treatment, I get to keep as a constant visual reminder of one of the roughest times in my life. Of course, it could all be a coincidence. The brain is good at finding patterns that aren't there.
mckayb24 10y ago
I didn't see any mention of controlling for people that are worried about their health with reason. If a bunch of people in your family have health problems you would be more likely to worry about your health and be more likely to have health problems. This may be an issue of correlation not causation.
amelius 10y ago
Closely related effect, with scientific references: [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo

128 points by hellofunk 10y ago

I'm currently enjoying a book called It's All In Your Head by an Irish neurologist called Suzanne O'Sullivan - review at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/07/all-in-your-head-review-o-sullivan-suzanne-osullivan https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/07/all-in-your-he.... Summaries of some of the clinical stories themselves are at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/16/you-think-im-mad-the-truth-about-psychosomatic-illness https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/16/you-think-im... It's mind boggling (no pun intended) how far psychosomatic illness can go, even as far as resulting in blindness, seizures, and paralysis. I was never familiar with the idea of repressed memories and psychological trauma causing physical illness before and initially dismissed it as arm-wavey pseudoscience, but the amount of evidence is striking even if our level of understanding is poor. This also explains why so many people with undiagnosable pain disorders seem to get referred to psychiatrists here in the UK - people misinterpret this as doctors thinking their illness is all imaginary, it's not, but the cause of it often well can be.

overcast 10y ago
I'm going to have to check this out. While not affecting my health currently, I definitely worry too much about the outcome of just about everything. Always glass half empty view of things, and I need to change it.
- Quarrelsome 10y ago
  I recommend trying to be at peace with the worst case scenario. I.E. I used to worry about people stealing my things while I was asleep but then thought through how I would handle all my things being stolen and how hard it would be for someone to steal all my stuff (i.e. they can't take it all). Once I realised I only needed to replace a few key items which were quite affordable and relatively easy I stopped worrying about it. Not sure if that works for everything but I'd figure the uncertainty is often why we worry. Realising that even in the worst case people will be able to muddle along can be a weight off one's mind.
  - Jemmeh 10y ago
    I do this too. "Okay, the worst thing that can happen is XYZ. What would I do if that happened? I'd do ABC. Okay, I know how to handle it. Moving on."
- Diederich 10y ago
  Stoicism has been useful for me: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/wiki/faq https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/wiki/faq
  - href 10y ago
    For me it was Zen, which I heard is in some ways quite similar to Stoicism. A good start is Alan Watts' "The Way of Zen": https://www.amazon.com/Way-Zen-Alan-W-Watts/dp/0375705104 https://www.amazon.com/Way-Zen-Alan-W-Watts/dp/0375705104
    - hnjm0101 10y ago
      I dunno, maybe I've completely missed the point in his writing, but I just tried reading "The Wisdom of Insecurity" and it seemed like almost complete nonsense to me. There were definitely a few passages that were very insightful, but the other 90% (at least to me) was incoherent rambling.
      - href 10y ago
        I didn't mean to recommend Alan Watts in general, though I generally like him. I just think Zen can be a bit hard to get into without some introduction and I consider Watts' decent.
cesarbs 10y ago
> It's mind boggling (no pun intended) how far psychosomatic illness can go, even as far as resulting in blindness, seizures, and paralysis. While I don't have physical symptoms as severe as those you listed, that's pretty much how my health anxiety manifests. I don't just have obsessive thoughts over being sick. I actually feel things. And my anxiety is not thoughts -> symptoms, it's the other way around. I start having a bunch of symptoms, give it some time hoping they will go away, but they don't. So I can't help but think something is seriously wrong. There are instances where I've dealt with a set of symptoms for a whole year. A few examples: - When I'm anxious over a brain aneurysm or brain tumor, it's because I started having visual distortions, tingling, my mouth won't widen on one side when I smile, etc. - I was once worried about carotid artery dissection, because I could hear my pulse in one ear and it would stop when I pressed against my carotid on the same side (a telltale sign of CAD). MRIs in the ER revealed nothing. - My heart acts up with PVCs every now and then, and they are so unpleasant that it's nearly impossible not to think I have a serious heart condition. PVCs can be common when people are really anxious or stressed out, but in my case they just come about in my most serene moments it seems. - I start worrying about colon cancer whenever I get alternate bouts of diarrhea and constipation, coupled with frequent abdominal cramps. This particular anxiety gets to the point where I see blood when inspecting my output in the toilet, only for it to disappear when I blink. Mind you, it's not "hm I think that tiny spec might be blood". I actually see streaks of blood when I first look at it. - At some point last year I started having sudden weakness in my right arm. I couldn't hold parts of it flexed, and things just seemed heavier. I was sure I had a degenerative disorder of some sort. But then it just went away after several weeks. I could go on and on and on. It's horrible. Friends and family don't understand me, no matter how much I try to explain to them that I'm not just thinking about being sick (I'm actually trying hard NOT to think about it), but I'm really feeling a whole bunch of stuff. They always revert to "stop thinking about it and it will go away". So frustrating.
- DenisM 10y ago
  Sorry about your plight, man. How do you cope?
  - cesarbs 10y ago

vivekd 10y ago

>In those 12 years, about 3% of people developed ischemic heart disease—which includes heart attack—but 6% of people who had health anxiety did. “We found there was a surprisingly strong association between levels of health anxiety and the risk of ischemic heart disease,” Berge says. Isn't it more likely that people had anxiety about their health conditions because they were in poor health, and that is why they developed heart disease? This seems like a very poorly constructed study.

stult 10y ago
The very next sentence in the article reads: >Even when the researchers controlled for established cardiovascular disease risk factors, they found about a 70% increased risk of ischemic heart disease in the years of followup. Your point isn't invalid, but the authors do seem to have made efforts to address it. Though admittedly it is difficult to evaluate the validity of their controls without reference to the actual study. Generalized anxiety has been shown to be a reliable predictor of coronary heart disease[1], so it doesn't seem like a stretch that the subset of health-related anxieties would as well. [1] See, e.g., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22075746 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22075746
- Noseshine 10y ago
  I think the problem lies in for established cardiovascular disease risk factors As the great American philosopher D. Rumsfeld once famously pointed out [0], there are known knowns, known unknowns but there also are unknown unknowns :-) So I would not dismiss the argument at this point. Generalized anxiety has been shown to be a reliable predictor of coronary heart disease What the parent said applies here too. A statistical "predictor" isn't a statement about causation. What would need to be shown is a mechanism. How is the brain doing all those things that it is being blamed for? or is it really just sensing something and reacting, instead of causing it as is claimed? Why are so many people in those discussion satisfied as soon as the brain (or something much more fuzzy!) has been "identified" as the actor causing the problem? How is that an explanation for anything? I'm not in the medical field, but I've taken many medical courses, including neuroscience courses (plural, because I found it so interesting). I find those "explanations" baffling to say the least. All I see is that they are just shifting the problem somewhere else and calling it a day, sort of like Douglas Adam's "Somebody Else's Problem (SEP) field" that makes things invisible. [1] Also, that soooo many people take a statistical "prediction" as a real prediction, meaning an established causation, without question, always in similar discussions when people start citing stuff found on PubMed. Statistics is more like blood test measurements: It's a tool, to get a diagnosis you use it - but you don't base your result on it (just because a value is inside or outside some "standard range" doesn't mean much by itself). Not unless it's extreme, in which case you probably don't need statistics to begin with. . [0] Just for the fun and the memories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns and 35 seconds of video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaxqUDd4fiw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaxqUDd4fiw [1] http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Somebody_Else's_Problem_field http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Somebody_Else's_Problem_fi... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_else's_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_else's_problem for the more serious description

mathw 10y ago

I have no trouble believing that your mental state can influence your physical health. It's happened to me repeatedly. Prolonged stress (usually at work) seems to result in my immune system becoming less effective, and I start getting colds, coughs, mild flu-likes and so forth, plus whirly stomach and lots of toilet time. Sure it's all in my head, but the thermometer says it's in my bloodstream too!

ddmf 10y ago
Exactly what I've seen after a year implementing software that ultimately failed - probably the worst professional period of my life. During that period I was ok, probably surviving on fight and flight, but since I've had episodes as you describe, although one case with a super high temperature that left me unable to work for 3 days.
Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
I have had frequent belching and heartburn problems for many years, often causing insomnia. After a lot of time trying to determine which foods were the cause, I ended up noticing the elephant in the room: food actually matters very little, my (subjective) stress level explains like 90% of the problem... if I'm relaxed (e.g. on vacation) I can eat practically whatever I want without getting problems, if I'm really stressed I'll get them even if I eat like a Spartan. In fact, having a partner is the single best thing that has happened to my stomach and my insomnia. She reduces my stress levels and alleviates the symptoms very noticeably just by being by my side. Sorry if it sounds corny, but for me this is an observable reality. The problem with all this is that, of course, stress is often something outside our control. Knowing what I know I try to keep it at bay as much as possible and take things easier than when I thought it was a food problem, but if there's lots of work and deadlines it's not like you can just wave stress away like you can avoid a given food...
brbrodude 10y ago
The brain feels the body and both are affected by the environment(e.g.: if your body is bad and you can't feel pleasure anymore, or it's lowered, how are you gonna have happy thoughts? Same applies to the environment, which is something that seems to be frequently ignored), not only that, stress is a chemical and it acts on both your body and your brain.. is this conclusion a surprise to anyone? Most of the comments here, people seem only capable of introjecting stuff as if the sole reason for stuff has gotta be personal issues(not saying this in a derrogatory manner) or a square diagnosis, this is absurd to me. Maybe it's cause I already came to the conclusion that I'm an ok mostly healthy animal plus gave up trying to fit the artificial into the natural(i.e.: I think our society is rotten. Also, how convenient it is that all problems must be seen as purely individual, huh?). History, classical thought -> good for the brain and body, maybe.

NumberCruncher 10y ago

This are actually good news. If worrying can make you sick then worrying less can make you more healthy. Stop worrying today! Everything will be fine!

vesak 10y ago
http://dudeism.com/ http://dudeism.com/

eth0up 10y ago

Sorry, but... Fuck This. I went to my Dr last week because of acute and chronic pain in the testes, ensuing insomnia, etc. He pulled the psychosomatic card and suggested I was manifesting my own problems. I politely argued to no avail, then politely and permanently dismissed him as my doctor. Two days later I visited the ER, where it was confirmed that it certainly wasn't psychosomatic. It may be difficult to understand, but someone who is truly suffering and seeks help only to be told "it's in your head", can very well be the victim of an external psychological disorder, not anxiety. For how many years were innocent and otherwise perfectly healthy people persecuted, neglected, or ridiculed when they complained of stomach pain, i.e. an ulcer? Until Barry Marshall[1] came along and deliberately infected himself with H Pylori to successfully prove the actual cause of most ulcers, probably far too long. I advise that when pointing this self-righteous etiological finger at others, do so cautiously. I know I didn't quit distance running, my job, and adopt a life of sleeplessness to secretly spite myself and binge on artificial misery. - Irritated patient 1. http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/07-dr-drank-broth-gave-ulcer-solved-medical-mystery http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/07-dr-drank-broth-gave-...

arnoooooo 10y ago
Not to mention that when conditions are said to be brought on by stress, there is a chicken and egg issue : being in pain causes stress.
m_fayer 10y ago
Indeed. What if your body harbors some dormant weakness that originates in some old injury or some unfortunate genes? And so what if it was your divorce that was the last straw, and now that weakness has manifested and is now a Real Problem? Ok doctor, I also wish I wasn't getting divorced and no shit that was stressful, but the resulting digestive/auto-immune/neurological condition that it triggered is real, and that's why I'm here. I sometimes have the feeling that if doctors can in some plausible way blame any non-simple affliction on stress, that's their ticket to victim blame, recommend yoga, and call it a day.
nickcoury 10y ago
I think it's unfortunate when people ignore the possibility of psychosomatic symptoms, but even more dangerous when they attribute every issue to it. It should be a tool in the toolbox, a possible explanation/approach to ailments that are sometimes simple and singular but often times complex and multi-faceted. My N=1: I have chronic back issues. At best it's general tightness and fatigue, but can also be sore and painful. In particular I had two incidents in 2011 (in a matter of seconds) and 2012 (over a couple days) where my back spasmed and left me crippled, unable to move without knife-stabbing pains and unable walk down hallways without holding onto a wall. Both lasted almost a month, and were followed by months of heightened soreness. I was 23/24 at the time, with no preexisting health issues. I'm a regular runner and in great health otherwise. I tried to fix this with deep tissue massage and core/strengthening regimens, and largely those helped keep the pain levels down but really only halved the symptoms at best. A friend had been recommending Sarno's 'A Divided Mind' which is all about the psychosomatic diagnosis since the first incident, but I had dismissed it. Finally in 2013, as I felt a new round of the spasms coming, I gave it a shot. Lo and behold, it became the single most effective tool I've found to manage my back issues. I identified that each spasm came with a major emotionally loaded event. In 2011 it was unrealistic pressure to compete at a big running race I had been training for. In 2012 it was participating in the search and rescue for a dear friend who was lost (and died) in the wilderness. In 2013 it was a nasty falling out with my best friend (and brother) at the time. I don't believe the mechanisms are fully understood, and I think Sarno in particular does too much hand waving. But using his approach was the first time in years that I had no discernible back issues. I liken it to getting butterflies in your stomach. Your mind and emotions can trigger physiological changes to blood vessels, nerves, muscles, etc. that in turn can cause real issues. I also don't believe it's the only factor. I started an office job in 2015, and back issues have come back that I attribute 100% to the office lifestyle. I've found no relief with the psychosomatic approach, but do better with a sit/stand desk, breaks, and daily exercise. Overall, I think a ton of people could benefit from approaching health issues from a psychosomatic perspective as one of many possible diagnoses. I also agree there are so many other possibilities that assuming it is always in your head is ignorant, neglectful, and downright dangerous.

shams93 10y ago

In California it's an at will state with unemployment topping out at 900 a month with the highest taxes and rent in the world. People die prematurely here from the extreme level of anxiety imposed on professionals I can't imagine how bad it gets if you have kids but worry is as big a contributor to early death as addiction.

bertr4nd 10y ago

After an extremely stressful half at work, I developed heart palpitations, gastritis, insomnia, and a very distinct vitreous floater. All of these have more or less resolved, except the floater, which, since there's no known treatment, I get to keep as a constant visual reminder of one of the roughest times in my life. Of course, it could all be a coincidence. The brain is good at finding patterns that aren't there.

mckayb24 10y ago

I didn't see any mention of controlling for people that are worried about their health with reason. If a bunch of people in your family have health problems you would be more likely to worry about your health and be more likely to have health problems. This may be an issue of correlation not causation.

amelius 10y ago

Closely related effect, with scientific references: [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo