Re: Chernobyl and Psychosomatic Illness

[mozley@darius.pet.upenn.edu (P. David Mozley, M.D.)]

>Radsafeters,
> . . .a physician, possibly a psychatirist, and also European
> . . .said the illnesses that many
>residents of the area were reporting were not psychosomatic that they
>were real stress and fear induced symptoms.
>Isn't a psychosomatic illness real, resulting from fear and stress,
>whether rational or irrational.  If the fear of
>adverse health affects, and the stress of disruption of your life
>by evacuation, etc. caused real symptoms, which I do not for an instant
>doubt they did, why isn't that illness called psychosomatic?  What is
>different about it that it should be callen not psychosomatic?
>

>Peter G. Vernig, VA Medical Center, Denver, vernig.peter@forum.va.gov
>
You are correct: psychosomatic illnesses are those for which there are
demonstrable somatic substrates.  They are simply exacerbated by excess
catecholamines, glucocorticoids, etc etc.  Peptic ulcer disease is the
quintescential example, as you noted.  Alexander's sacred 7 also include
ulcerative colitis, regional ileitis (Chron's), asthma, psoriasis, and
atopia.

The physician also sounds correct.  Diarrhea and its sequella, post
traumatic stress disorder and its varients, several of the insomnias,
increased suseptability to infection, etc, etc ad nauseum as well as
chronic nausea, are health problems induced by "stress", that is, the
perception of external stimuli producing excess catecholamines,
glucocorticoids, etc, which cause somatic dysfunction but for which there
is no demonstrable organic substrate.

Both sets of disorders are "real" in that they cause dysfunction,
diability, distress (anquish), and death.  In fact, stress induced
disorders are frequently even more lethal than the psychosomatic disorders.


mozley@darius.pet.upenn.edu