Manage Psychosomatic Symptoms
Psychosomatic Solutions © Martyn Carruthers

Online Life Coaching, Counseling & Soulwork Therapy

Psychosomatic symptoms appear to originate in, or are worsened by, limiting beliefs, negative emotions and relationship problems. Many somatic diseases appear to have psychosomatic components.

What are Psychosomatic Symptoms?

Please consult a physician about medical symptoms or medical conditions.

But if you visit a physician, you may be told it's all in your head.

Some body (somatic) symptoms have no known physiological basis. Some symptoms seem more related to beliefs and emotions than to physical damage or biological causes. These symptoms seem to range from mild headaches to phantom pregnancies, and can include nausea, diarrhea, giddiness and muscle pains.

Although many symptoms seem to involve both the mind (psyche) and body (soma), there appears to be little agreement as to what symptoms should be called psychosomatic. Sometimes, emotions seem to influence not only the onset of an illness, but the severity of the symptoms. Beyond biology is psychobiology.

Like many medical schools, we believe that symptoms such as asthma, eczema, heart problems, hypertension, migraines and ulcers are strongly influenced by emotions and beliefs - and therefore by the relationships in which those emotions and beliefs were generated. Anxiety, stress, guilt and depression often result from relationship problems - and negative emotions can trigger physical complaints.

What is the difference between Somatic and Psychosomatic complaints?

Some people exaggerate or deliberately falsify symptoms to avoid work, examinations or military duty. It can be difficult to know which symptoms are real.

Which Relationships require Psychosomatic Symptoms?

While psychosomatic symptoms can affect people at any age, they seem more likely appear during times of stress, such as divorce, examinations, overwork and forced military service. Mild symptoms (e.g. headaches, nausea, sleepiness, blurred vision) may appear during conversations about goals, emotions and relationships.

During our last session, I had a weird headache which moved.
Then we noticed that different headache locations corresponded to
different people. My mother-headache was back left, for example ...

A key issue is communication. Psychosomatic symptoms seem more commonly reported by children and people who cannot communicate well, especially people who do not communicate emotions, or who habitually hide or minimize their feelings.

Since I was a child, my glasses give me a sense of safety.
If I take them off - people become blurred and less real.
Sometimes I fear seeing people too clearly.

How many people are taught how to communicate feelings? Children are often punished for expressing negative emotions (e.g. anger) that their parents do not want to acknowledge. Many people appear to swallow their anger ... and later explode with rage or have strange body symptoms.

Psychosomatic symptoms may be ways to cope with relationship stress. Psychosomatic conditions are often linked by family dynamics and identifications. For example, chronic sadness, chronic anger and chronic anxiety seem to be passed on from one generation to the next. Children follow where their parents lead.

Solutions for Psychosomatic Symptoms

If we resolve the relationship and emotional issues that underlie psychosomatic conditions, those symptoms may seem to magically disappear.

We expect to find not one but multiple factors that lead to psychosomatic symptoms. (Finding all the benefits of a symptom set is complex. We observe and respond to non-verbal signals and body language at least as much as we listen to words).

I don't seek one cause for psychosomatic symptoms - I seek ten!
If I only find six "causes" - I keep looking! Martyn

Some health professionals recognize the importance of dealing with relationship factors of disease symptoms and try to heal whole people, rather than just body parts. And yet people who were diagnosed with psychosomatic disorders have told us that their doctors reacted as if they were insane.

Listen to body language with your eyes! Don't wait for a person to
explain everything ... assume that those little gestures and fleeting
expressions are communications ... in a language that you can learn.

Most people need a safe space to talk about their feelings and relationships. We help provide such safe spaces to help people gain insights into how their symptoms make sense in their lives - and into what alternative cures they can find instead.

I had frequent migraine headaches for many years - and only one since our sessions.
I found that I was following my mother - whose headaches allowed her to avoid anything
she did not like ... I also used my headaches to get sympathy from my father.

People with psychosomatic symptoms can benefit from support, understanding and compassion of family and friends (but not from sympathy, which may encourage people to stay in bad states). We can listen carefully and provide supportive feedback.

We don't confuse compassion with sympathy! Compassion can motivate
people to act like adults, while sympathy can motivate adults to act like children.

It can be spooky watching symptoms vanish! This is commonplace with headaches, nausea and phantom pains, but our systemic cures for some physical symptoms look like Hollywood special effects in slow-time!

Since my older brother died, I feel like I'm carrying his pain.
I feel like he's inside me. Doctors tell me I have no medical conditions.

If you have strange symptoms, examine your lifestyle. Could you be allergic to a common food, food additive or house dust, etc? Consider your relationships, and how you deal with stress and conflict. Do your symptoms follow a trigger?

Please consult a physician about medical symptoms or conditions.

Give yourself space for insights and time for integration. After our online sessions, people often say that they have many aha! moments and insights.

Contact us to manage negative emotions and solve relationship problems.

Online Life Coaching, Counseling & Soulwork Therapy

*References
Rafael Fernández Martínez and Fernández Concepción Rodríguez (Spanish)
Casey PR; Tyrer PJ. (1986). Personality, functioning and symptomatology. J Psychiatry Res. 20:363-374.
Trethowan WH. Psychiatry and the seven ages of man. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 1988 Apr;81(4):189-93.

Plagiarism is theft. Copyright © Martyn Carruthers 2008-2013 All rights reserved

We sincerely hope you found this page useful. If you know people who could benefit, please
forward this to them. We wish you happy relationships. Visit our Facebook Community

Manage Your Emotions & Solve Relationship Problems Have You Suffered Enough?  Where are you now? Assess your fixations, bonds and enmeshments What do you want? Know your life goals and how you sabotage yourself Do you feel resourceful? Find your lost resources by dreaming together Which emotions block you? End relationship problems and mentor damage Do your beliefs limit you? Change your limiting beliefs and end dependence Do you feel empty? Resolve identity loss to recover your lost resources Is your partnership happy? Build healthy partnership (or separate peacefully) Are your children healthy? Happy parents can better manage family problems Do you want team success? Team leaders and top teams can develop together Do you have other goals? Specialty coaching & training

Plagiarism is theft. Copyright © Martyn Carruthers 1996-2013 All rights reserved. Soulwork Systemic Coaching was primarily developed by Martyn Carruthers
to help people dissolve emotional problems and relationship issues to achieve their goals. These concepts and strategies are for general knowledge only. Consult a physician about medical conditions and before changing medical treatment. Don't steal intellectual property ... get permission to post, publish or teach Martyn's work.