Posted by Elizabeth on January 18, 1999, at 6:58:52
In reply to "psychosomatic" - clinicians' opinions/comments?, posted by Elizabeth on January 8, 1999, at 14:06:24
I know what the word means literally, silly racer. :)
I guess what I'm curious about is, is a distinction made between conditions like heart disease that can be affected by "psychological" [sic] factors (stress, etc.) but which have the same end result regardless of whether stress was involved, and "hysterical" conditions like pseudoseizures that don't turn up the kind of lab results you would expect from the medical condition they imitate? Are both of these considered "psychosomatic?"
Due to its use in common parlance, the word has become rather loaded so I'm not fond of it (sorta like "addiction"), but I would like to know if it has a real meaning other than the various ways it is used colloquially.
BTW Alan, I liked your response. The phrase that I tend to hear is "it's just anxiety." (see http://www.mit.edu/people/shapere/Humour/hysteric.html for an amusing story about this.)
poster:Elizabeth
thread:2158
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990101/msgs/2482.html