From the author: From the book “Life Management” It is known that many changes in health status are directly related to psychological factors “All diseases are from nerves, only... from pleasure!” There can be many objections to this common phrase. Many famous authors believe that 90-95 percent of the cause of disease is the mental way of thinking. Spiritual esoteric literature gives an even higher percentage. There is a long-known and popular term - “psychosomatics”. What is it? Psychosomatics (from the Greek psyche - soul and soma - body) is the influence of psychological factors on the occurrence of medical diseases. The study of this issue is a very important part of our topic, since it gives clear concepts about the connection of mental processes with manifestations of bodily functions. “The brain cries, and tears drip into the heart, liver, stomach” Professor A.R. Luria. Although the term “psychosomatics” will soon be two hundred years old (it was proposed in 1818 by a German doctor named Heinroth), great minds still interpret it very differently. There is, of course, a set of diseases whose psychosomatic nature is (almost!) beyond doubt: ulcerative colitis, hyper- and hypotension, gastritis, asthma, anorexia nervosa, diabetes and glaucoma. And there is an opinion: “Be less nervous, and everything will pass!” But few people clearly understand what psychosomatic diseases actually are. The two most famous concepts of the origin of these “joys of life” are the theories of Franz Alexander and Sigmund Freud. Yes, yes, Freud wrote not only about sexuality. He called his version of the origin of psychosomatic diseases conversion. The word “conversion” usually means turning something bad, outdated and unnecessary at the moment into something more relevant. “Let’s forge rockets into frying pans and kebabs!” But during the conversion that Freud spoke about, something else happens: the transformation of bad into even worse: an internal conflict, without resolution, is transformed into certain physiological symptoms. Please note: an internal conflict is not a conflict of pickles and kefir in the stomach . This is an internal mental conflict, a conflict of unconscious desires and prohibitions. For example, sometimes you really want to throw your boss out the window, beat up your husband’s secretary, drop everything and go to your aunt, into the wilderness, to Saratov... But these desires are so forbidden that they are not even realized. A person is not able to understand what he really wants, but experiences constant emotional discomfort. Thanks to the transfer from the mental to the physical, this dilemma is resolved. From Freud’s point of view, during conversion a person does not fall ill with something random, but in each specific symptom a symbolic representation of what his experiences were associated with. For example, he explained psychosomatic visual and hearing impairments by a reluctance to see and hear the surrounding environment. Gina Litinskaya (author of many medical articles, whose research was largely used in this article) observed at one time a girl who suffered from terrible sore throats while living together with my mother-in-law. “...Whether my colleague was right or wrong in asserting that this was her unconscious desire to yell at this very mother-in-law, but as soon as “mom” left for permanent residence in a neighboring state, not only the sore throats went away, but also the consequences of many years of taking antibiotics...” With the appearance of a psychosomatic illness, a person, oddly enough, experiences relief. This happens for three reasons: firstly, as mentioned above, the unconscious conflict is facilitated; secondly, the disease makes it possible to receive various bonuses from the role of the patient (not going to hard work, bringing tea to bed, and in general - everyone around is sorry ); thirdly, the sequence of further actions immediately becomes clear: the eye doesn’t see - drop drops, an ulcer with colitis appears - take almagels with diets, the heart is naughty - eat some good stuff. The picture is ideal: the person seems to be in business -is treated, and the internal conflict recedes into the background. But the disease is not going to go away at all. Taking medications and treatment gives a feeling of gaining control over one’s own life, which was lost as a result of a psychotraumatic situation. By the way, often patients with psychosomatic diseases quite consciously arrange breakdowns for themselves, especially in public situations. There was a real story - a young man, the owner of a peptic ulcer, at a large tourist rally took two hundred grams of moonshine and ate some pepper, after which for half the night about two hundred people were busy running obstacle courses through the forest in search of at least one sober driver. And then they were intensely worried and remembered the mother and all the relatives of this young man in various expressions. Of course, the foolish young man did not stage this show intentionally, but his behavior cannot be called an accident either. Even a beginning ulcer sufferer cannot help but know what will happen to him for such eating behavior. And the pain he experiences is completely real. But the feeling of one’s own need is more important than health, albeit on a subconscious level. It is quite possible that his ulcer would have flared up on its own, without a stimulus - the boy really wanted everyone’s attention. Franz Alexander’s theory professes the principle: “where it is thin, it breaks.” Some are characterized by a not very healthy cardiovascular system, while others have a problem area - the lungs. It is these organs that will suffer first, regardless of the content of the internal conflict. From Alexander’s point of view, illness does not even always weaken that same internal conflict, since it does not serve as an expression of emotions. For example, an increase in blood pressure in a state of rage does not weaken the rage, but is just a physiological symptom of this emotion. If a person is often in a state of rage, he may end up with chronic hypertension. The debate about what is considered psychosomatic and what is not is not over yet. Some people are ready to consider everything psychosomatic except for labor fever and dropsy in the knee. Some people believe that psychosomatics is largely a myth, just like the Placebo effect. From the point of view of some authoritative experts from both psychology and medicine, even such a terrible disease as cancer is psychosomatic. And, although there is a lot of evidence for this, neither official medicine, nor especially patients and their relatives are ready to accept this point of view - it is too terrible a diagnosis. By the way, the Russian scientist I.P. Pavlov came very close to this problem. Moreover, even before the basic concepts of psychosomatics were formulated by Donheim, Dunbarot and Alexander in the development of experimental neurosis. One of the founders of domestic scientific medicine, M.Ya. Mudrov clearly pointed out that “... some people get sick from physical causes, others from mental disturbances.” As an experienced doctor, he noted the most important role of the mental factor in the treatment of patients. I will be happy to quote his words: “Knowing the mutual influence of the spirit and body on each other, I consider it my duty to note that there are also spiritual medicines that heal the body, and those that draw wisdom from science, most often from psychology.” Great V.M. Bekhterev not only proclaimed, but also proved in every possible way in his works the possibility of the occurrence of bodily ailments under the influence of mental changes. In the 19th century, the classics of Russian medicine unanimously recognized the influence of a person’s mental life, his way of thinking and the emotional sphere on the occurrence of diseases. Therefore, many specialists already Both sides are inclined to believe that the most correct approach to psychosomatic diseases is to work on the problem simultaneously with treatment that is gentle on the body - psychological techniques, spiritual practices, etc. I am convinced that a conscious approach to everything is the most effective at present. And if you catch yourself thinking that getting sick wouldn’t be so bad, talk to yourself and your body, contact a person who knows effective practices, or try it yourself