[Psychosomatic principles research: theoretical reflections and experimental assessments]

Area of Science:

• Psychosomatic Medicine
• Stress and Strain Physiology
• Internal Medicine

Background:

• Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) model of stress is expanded to include
• internal stress
• and psychosomatic illness.
• Psychoanalytic practice reveals most patients develop illnesses not from simple psychosocial stressors, but from unresolved ambivalence conflicts rooted in early childhood.
• These conflicts, termed
• strain
• are distinct from stress and involve unawareness of antagonistic tendencies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To differentiate between the concepts of stress and strain in the context of psychosomatic diseases.
• To investigate the pathophysiological mechanisms linking ambivalence conflicts (strain) to specific somatic illnesses.
• To explore the role of early childhood neuroticizing mechanisms in the development of strain-related diseases.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical discussion based on Selye's stress model and psychoanalytic theory.
• Comparative analysis of stress versus strain in psychosomatic illness etiology.
• Investigation of functional elements of strain in patients with specific gastrointestinal and respiratory conditions.

Main Results:

• Psychosomatic illnesses are predominantly linked to internal ambivalence conflicts (strain) rather than external stressors.
• Functional elements of strain were identified in patients with ulcus duodeni, asthma bronchiale, colitis ulcerosa, and Morbus Crohn.
• These strain elements can be integrated into pathophysiological pathways leading to morphological changes.

Conclusions:

• Psychosomatic diseases primarily result from unresolved ambivalence conflicts (strain) and associated neuroticizing mechanisms.
• Strain involves simultaneous psychic and somatic correlative functions during conflict experience.
• These psychosomatic conditions largely follow the body's autonomous processes, influenced by strain.