4 ms·

By and large it is a psychological issue. When it comes to physical problems, doctors focus on treating that instead of secondary symptoms like insomnia, so tha

By and large it is a psychological issue. When it comes to physical problems, doctors focus on treating that instead of secondary symptoms like insomnia, so that's why when you present complaining just about insomnia, doctors initially assume a psychological cause.

jamesrcole 11y ago
Why are you treating this as an issue to do with "complaining to doctors"? I'm saying that there seems to be a near universal assumption that sleep problems are psychological. In my experience, a lot of people will basically refuse to believe that someone has sleep problems due to non-psychological factors.
- cpncrunch 11y ago
  Out of curiosity, what physical condition causes your insomnia?
  - jamesrcole 11y ago
    Musculoskeletal kinds of issues, involving a lot of inflammation and muscle spasm (this is a weirdly-named technical term, and not something where the muscles noticeably jerk). Unclear where it all originally came from, possibly from long-undiagnosed celiac disease.
    - cpncrunch 11y ago
      Have you considered CFS/fibromyalgia? Your symptoms (including insomnia) are all very typical of CFS/fibro, but not celiac. Typically the cause is stress/burnout. Regarding people not "believing" that your insomnia is physical rather than psychological: I think it's just that your symptoms are typical of a stress-related cause rather than an organic cause.
      - jamesrcole 11y ago
        I think I have looked into those in the past, but it must have been quite a while ago. Something I'll try to look into again (once I get a bit of a break from phd work...) I've had these problems all my life (or as long as I can recall), and for that and other reasons, I don't think it's stress/burnout. I've read of people having a lot of musculo-skeletal and inflammatory problems due to celiac disease. I don't see what the "typical" symptoms have to do with anything -- they don't say anything about a specific case of a particular person. > Regarding people not "believing" that your insomnia is physical rather than psychological: I think it's just that your symptoms are typical of a stress-related cause rather than an organic cause. I do not believe that is the case. It seems to me that the majority of people believe such things can only be psychological in nature... it's like they do not want to believe it could be otherwise. I also question what evidence people have for the idea that insomnia is primarily caused by psychological factors. It seems to be mainly an assumption. I'm sure there's been some medical studies, but I feel that the medical profession is also strongly influenced by this assumption, and I really wonder how much any studies have been able to properly factor in non-psychological factors as the cause of insomnia.
        DanBC 11y ago
        But it doesn't matter if there's a physical cause. We know that psychological treatments work for many people. Offering a psychological treatment does not mean they don't believe you or that your problems are not real and distressing. It's pretty stigmatising of you to dismiss the pain felt from a purely psychological cause - did you realise ou were doig that?
        jamesrcole 11y ago
        In reply to DanBC: > Offering a psychological treatment does not mean they don't believe you or that your problems are not real and distressing. I agree. I didn't say otherwise. They're not the reasons I gave. > It's pretty stigmatising of you to dismiss the pain felt from a purely psychological cause - did you realise ou were doig that? what? show me anything I've written that has dismissed "the pain felt from a purely psychological cause"
        11y ago

jamesrcole 11y ago

Why are you treating this as an issue to do with "complaining to doctors"? I'm saying that there seems to be a near universal assumption that sleep problems are psychological. In my experience, a lot of people will basically refuse to believe that someone has sleep problems due to non-psychological factors.

cpncrunch 11y ago
Out of curiosity, what physical condition causes your insomnia?
- jamesrcole 11y ago
  Musculoskeletal kinds of issues, involving a lot of inflammation and muscle spasm (this is a weirdly-named technical term, and not something where the muscles noticeably jerk). Unclear where it all originally came from, possibly from long-undiagnosed celiac disease.
  - cpncrunch 11y ago
    Have you considered CFS/fibromyalgia? Your symptoms (including insomnia) are all very typical of CFS/fibro, but not celiac. Typically the cause is stress/burnout. Regarding people not "believing" that your insomnia is physical rather than psychological: I think it's just that your symptoms are typical of a stress-related cause rather than an organic cause.
    - jamesrcole 11y ago
      I think I have looked into those in the past, but it must have been quite a while ago. Something I'll try to look into again (once I get a bit of a break from phd work...) I've had these problems all my life (or as long as I can recall), and for that and other reasons, I don't think it's stress/burnout. I've read of people having a lot of musculo-skeletal and inflammatory problems due to celiac disease. I don't see what the "typical" symptoms have to do with anything -- they don't say anything about a specific case of a particular person. > Regarding people not "believing" that your insomnia is physical rather than psychological: I think it's just that your symptoms are typical of a stress-related cause rather than an organic cause. I do not believe that is the case. It seems to me that the majority of people believe such things can only be psychological in nature... it's like they do not want to believe it could be otherwise. I also question what evidence people have for the idea that insomnia is primarily caused by psychological factors. It seems to be mainly an assumption. I'm sure there's been some medical studies, but I feel that the medical profession is also strongly influenced by this assumption, and I really wonder how much any studies have been able to properly factor in non-psychological factors as the cause of insomnia.
      - DanBC 11y ago
        But it doesn't matter if there's a physical cause. We know that psychological treatments work for many people. Offering a psychological treatment does not mean they don't believe you or that your problems are not real and distressing. It's pretty stigmatising of you to dismiss the pain felt from a purely psychological cause - did you realise ou were doig that?
      - jamesrcole 11y ago
        In reply to DanBC: > Offering a psychological treatment does not mean they don't believe you or that your problems are not real and distressing. I agree. I didn't say otherwise. They're not the reasons I gave. > It's pretty stigmatising of you to dismiss the pain felt from a purely psychological cause - did you realise ou were doig that? what? show me anything I've written that has dismissed "the pain felt from a purely psychological cause"
      - 11y ago