How does psychosomatics work? diseases. Even more important: psychosomatics does not replace traditional medicine, but fills its gaps - “gets” where medicine cannot “get”. Psychosomatics has two aspects: 1) the influence of psychological factors on the body, 2) the influence of the state of the body on the psyche (this is when an illness “spoils” a person’s character or health-related fears appear that interfere with life). Surprisingly, many do not know or do not remember about the second aspect. Especially those who do not understand why a sick person needs a psychologist. How does psychosomatics work? Its principle can be briefly described as follows: With the help of the nervous system (in particular, through the senses), we perceive everything that happens around us - the real situation. Or we mentally reproduce a hypothetical situation. Based on our experience, we interpret this situation, see threats or opportunities. Interpretation occurs very quickly and, for the most part, automatically. The body adapts to the situation: under the influence of nerve impulses and hormones, its mode of operation changes. Important: this happens constantly and for everyone, whether we are talking about a change in the diameter of the pupil under the influence of light or muscle tension in a situation of conflict. If the body's operating modes are constantly changing, everything is fine. This is the norm. But if there is a “stuck” in any one state, or it is too strong, failures begin. First, functional (that is, the body is still intact, but no longer works properly), and then organ (disorders appear in the tissues of the organs themselves). Disturbances in some organs, according to the principle of a chain reaction, lead to disturbances in others, as well as changes in the mental state. Fears and complexes arise. Official medicine usually gets involved at stage 4, when the first organ changes have occurred (before this, doctors often “find nothing”). And it rarely reaches the middle of stage 5. In what stages do you think a clinical psychologist works? And how does he do this? I’ll tell you about this in one of the upcoming posts. You can sign up for a personal consultation here