Psychosomatic Manifestations, Symptoms and Diseases in Αdults (Psychosomatic Therapy)

The interaction of soul and body is continuous and in such a way that every mental phenomenon is imprinted on the body and every physical phenomenon is imprinted on the soul. In the general population, it has been observed that under the same environmental conditions, only certain individuals develop a disease, while the remaining individuals remain healthy. Therefore, whether or not the person will eventually get sick also depends on the individual's own vulnerability, which is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Environmental factors include stressful conditions, the degree of threat these conditions pose to the individual's homeostasis, and the available resources that will enable the individual to cope with them. Environmental factors have a direct impact on the immune system, which functions as the body's homeostatic mechanism. Psychosomatic diseases are more likely to develop through experiencing chronic conflict than through the experience of an acute stressful event. This book is the third volume of the "Psychosomatic Therapy" series, and some of the psychosomatic manifestations, symptoms, and diseases, which appear in adulthood, are described separately. They are analyzed in terms of the symptomatology of each disease, the psychological causes attributed to them, and the way in which they influence the manifestation and course of the diseases. In the first volume of the series, with the title “Somatization and Psychosomatic Diseases in Psychotherapy”, the book is developed in two parts. Part A begins with the theoretical and conceptual foundations needed to approach psychosomatic diseases, such as a historical review, a description of the nervous and endocrine systems, and a presentation of the biomedical and biopsychosocial health models. It then proceeds to examine the main interpretations attributed to psychosomatic disorders, somatization, somatoform disorders and anxiety as a characteristic. The concepts of personality and idiosyncrasy are also discussed. The second Part of the book looks into pain as a psychosomatic symptom and presents the main psychotherapeutic approaches to the treatment of psychosomatic diseases. In the second volume of the series, with the title “Psychosomatic Manifestations, Symptoms and Diseases in Children and Adolescents", a description of the most frequent psychosomatic symptoms encountered in children and adolescents is attempted, the main causal factors are presented, while at the same time the main interpretation theories for the psychosomatic manifestations are analyzed through the various psychological and psychotherapeutic approaches. There is a thorough analysis of the psychosomatic diseases found in children. Specifically, there are separate analyses of Anxiety Disorders, Skin Diseases, Asthma, Eating Disorders, Enuresis, Allergies, Headaches/Migraines, Spasms/Convulsions, Recurrent Accidents, and Gastrointestinal Diseases. There are descriptions of the disorders that fall into each disease category, the symptomatology of each disease separately, the etiology or pathology attributed to it according to different interpretive theories, and the way in which its manifestation and course are affected. Psychotherapeutic interventions are also described for each disorder.