Last update: 21 September, 2016
There is a connection between diseases and emotions. Emotions do not arise out of nowhere, but are related to our way of interpreting what happens to us; these reactions can give rise to physiological symptoms. Just as physical illnesses affect our mood and cause us to fear, fear or worry, many psychological problems affect our bodies.
When the mind-body relationship sees its harmony altered due to unpleasant emotions, negative feelings, low self-esteem and stressful situations, psychosomatic illnesses arise. The latter are considered physical disorders whose appearance and course may be related to psychological factors. Speaking of psychosomatic symptoms, we are referring to physical ailments for which it is not possible to make a medical diagnosis.
Projection of emotions on the body
There are different modes of manifestation with regard to disorders or physical alterations correlated with factors of a psychological nature:
- Digestive: irritable bowel syndrome or irritable bowel syndrome. They are tied to anger, anger and aggression.
- Cardiac and cardiovascular system: related to euphoria, hysteria, excitement, hypersensitivity and nervousness.
- Respiratory: when you are suffering from depression, you are breathless in front of the surprise factor, the emotion is suffocated and the anguish increases.
- Endocrine: The functioning of the endocrine glands is altered by emotional imbalances such as anxiety, doubt, skepticism and jealousy.
- Genitourinary: linked to fear, lack of self-esteem, shyness and despair.
- Dermatological or cutaneous: they are related to communication difficulties when one wants to impose one's word, excess of authority and control over others.
Our body screams when emotions don't speak
The same disorder can have different physical manifestations based on the state of mind with which it is faced. It has been shown that in the presence of diseases such as cancer or fibromyalgia, learning to manage emotions and find a certain emotional balance helps the patient recover.
When emotions are not expressed, there is a deficit in the mentalization of emotions, body sensations appear scarce or not at all associated with mental states.
A very important concept related to the inability to express emotions is alexithymia. It describes a group of symptoms seen in people with psychosomatic illnesses who experience difficulty in identifying and perceiving emotions, as well as a depletion of their imagination.
The different causes of alexithymia include hereditary, genetic, neuronal factors, brain injury or trauma. People with alexithymia are often described by others, even their loved ones, as cold and distant. They lack empathic skills and have great difficulty understanding and reciprocating other people's feelings effectively.
Emotional repression
In alexithymia we speak of the existence of a phenomenon of emotional repression. Repression would serve to keep painful or unpleasant experiences out of consciousness. Individuals use it as a defensive strategy and, therefore, would have less access to emotional memories, especially negative or unpleasant events.
The emotional block is the response given by many people to a suffering experienced as threatening or serious; this block is reflected in the difficulty in recognizing and regulating one's emotions with the intent of self-protecting against suffering. However, far from protecting, this emotional style has serious clinical and social consequences. What the mouth does not say is shouted by the body.
