Psychosomatics - childhood diseases and their causes. Psychosomatic disorders in children: classification

Psycho somatic disorders in children and adolescents, it is customary to divide into several groups. The manifestations of these symptoms and syndromes are quite obvious, and each parent, having noticed atypical reactions of the body in his child, should not leave these signs unattended. One of the first symptoms of psycho somatic diseases, as a rule, there are nausea, and pains in a peritoneum. Often these signs are attributed to indigestion, although in reality the reasons are completely different. What are the psychosomatic reactions of the body, and this material is devoted.

Groups of psychosomatic diseases: symptoms and syndromes

There are not so many groups of psychosomatic disorders, and individual symptoms and syndromes appear first. They are not yet a disease, and it is not always possible to immediately determine what caused them; when examining a child, changes in internal organs and body systems are not detected, only functional disorders. If the situation in the family does not change and the child continues his usual life, he is brought up by the same methods, then a picture of a certain illness is already formed from psychosomatic reactions.

With the manifestation of conversion symptoms of psychosomatic disorders, the child demonstrates a neurotic response to the conflict in the form of vomiting, complaints of pain, numbness in the body, which are actually present, but, as it turns out during the examination, have no justification.

During the manifestation of symptoms of psychosomatic syndromes, functional disorders of various organs and systems are recorded. In this case, the child's complaints are varied and are associated with the digestive tract, respiratory organs, urinary excretion, musculoskeletal system. In the presence of psychosomatic disorders, older children talk about unpleasant sensations and point to the region of the heart, about the feeling of a coma in the throat, headache, dizziness. These complaints are accompanied by anxiety, fears, increased fatigue, low mood, paroxysmal changes. heart rate, disorders of the stomach and intestines.

As a psychosomatic illness from any group develops, changes appear in the organs corresponding to the internal conflict.

Everyone believes that the health of the child is the main thing, but they forget that in order to preserve it, you need to separate your roles of spouses and parents. Parents should love the child and take care of him, but build and sort things out with each other only without his participation.

Classic psychosomatic reactions and diseases are gastric ulcer and duodenum, ulcerative colitis, hypertonic disease, rheumatoid arthritis, neurodermatitis. Gradually, more and more new diseases are revealed, which are the result of an unfavorable psychological situation in the family - this, cardiopsychoneurosis, type II, biliary dyskinesia and thyrotoxicosis. In adults, this list is wider.

Psychosomatic reactions to diseases of the body

In the first place among the psychosomatic reactions in children are nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. They occur when emotional stress, especially excitement, fear and not related to eating. As psychosomatosis develop chronic gastritis, gastroduodenitis, biliary dyskinesia, reactive pancreatitis, more rarely - peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum.

Second place is occupied skin manifestations- exudative-catarrhal diathesis, neurodermatitis, combined as.

In third place are movement disorders(hyperkinesis, tics,).

Fourth place is occupied endocrine disorders(obesity, anorexia, menstrual disorders, juvenile bleeding).

The fifth place among psychosomatic reactions is given to pain, more often headache.

Under the guise of basic psychosomatic disorders in children, unreacted negative emotions are realized. In children 3-5 years old, this is more often suppressed aggression, and in adolescents, aggression directed at oneself in the form of depression. Adolescents cannot openly show aggression towards other people, and therefore project it onto themselves and then suppress it. If they do not find a way to express anger and other negative aggressive emotions in socially acceptable ways, they suffer from depression, which is a prerequisite for many psychosomatic disorders.

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In the age of scientific and technological progress, you will not envy a modern mother. So much information has piled up that it is simply unrealistic to remain a mother who does not harm and psychologically traumatize the child. breastfeeding more than a year- blessed, feed the mixture - selfish. Sleeping with a child - sexopathology, leaving one in a crib - deprivation, going to work - trauma, sitting at home with a child - disturbed socialization, taking circles - overstrain, not taking circles - growing a consumer ... And it would be funny if it wasn't so sad. Mom had no time to survive and rethink all the articles on the psychology of development and education - and here is a novelty in the wrapper of a common truth. If a child falls ill, only the mother can be to blame - not directly, indirectly, not physically, so energy-informational ... And how can you maintain your sanity, not fall into depression and turn into an anxious neurotic?

I propose to leave the mother alone, and carefully figure out what the children's "psychosomatics" really is.

Initially, I assume that "mom bullying" began from the very time when the popular formula "all diseases from the brain" came to the forefront of popular psychology articles. If we know that some psychological problem lies at the heart of any disease, then we need to find it. But when suddenly it turned out that the child had no concern material values and prosperity that the child does not experience such fatigue and resource limitations as an adult, has no problems sexual in nature etc. Actually, due to age, the child is not yet woven into the social structure so much as to have all those complexes and experiences that adults have acquired over the years, bad luck is immediately revealed - either the interpretation of the reasons is incorrect (but you don’t want to believe it), or the problem is in mother (and how else to explain?).

Yes. The child really largely depends on the mother, her mood, behavior, etc. Part of the "problems" the child absorbs with mother's milk, through hormones; part of the lack of resources and the inability to give the child what is really needed; part of the fact that the child becomes a hostage to the removal of some problems, due to fatigue, ignorance, misunderstandings and erroneous interpretations, etc. to the fact that not everyone should understand medicine or psychology on an equal footing with specialists. But modern problem society lies in the fact that the emphasis from “all diseases from the brains”, and “childhood diseases from the brains of their parents”, has shifted to mothers with special children. AT best case this is karma, a lesson or experience, at worst, punishment, retribution and working off ... And then staying away is simply fatal. Therefore, the first thing that is important to understand for someone who is really interested in "psychosomatics" and wants to work on himself in this direction is that NOT ALL DISEASES FROM THE BRAIN. And not even 85%, as many write about it;)

Sometimes sickness is just sickness

Sometimes stress lowers the immune system. But stress is not only a mental concept, but also a physical one. Hypothermia or overheating, bright light, noise, vibrations, pain, etc. - all this is also stress for the body, and even more so for the child. Also, stress is not a synonym for bad (read distress and eustress), and positive events, surprises, etc. can deplete and weaken the body.

Moreover, if a child goes to kindergarten / school, he is constantly at risk of viral or bacterial infection. If there is chickenpox in the garden, if there is whooping cough in the garden, if some kind of stick was sown in excess in the kitchen, worms, lice, etc. does this mean that the child's mother projected her psychological problems onto him? Does this mean that only those children who have an unfavorable psychological climate in the family will get sick?

In my practice of working with allergic diseases, there was a case of a mother who for a long time was looking for her “hidden grievances and controversial feelings” in relation to the father of a child with whom she was divorced. The connection was obvious, because the rashes on the girl's body appeared some time after meeting with dad, but there were no feelings, because the divorce was amicable. A conversation with parents did not give any clues, but a conversation with a child revealed the fact that dad, when meeting with his daughter, simply fed her chocolate, and so that mom would not swear, it was their little secret.

You just have to accept it as a fact that sometimes diseases are just diseases.

Sometimes diseases are the result psychological problems in family

different families, various conditions residence, level of income, education, etc. There are “incomplete” families, and there are also “overcrowded”, with grandparents, or when several families live in the same territory, for example, brothers and sisters. In overcrowded families, children have too many different models and options for establishing relationships, rights, obligations, in incomplete - on the contrary. Often, both from an overabundance and from a lack of these connections, conflicts arise. Hidden or explicit, they are in almost any family, and can affect the health of the child, both directly and indirectly. What beacons can be used to suspect the psychosomatic basis of diseases in children?

1. The age of the child is up to 3 years, especially in the case when the child is breastfed and spends most of his time only with one of the parents/guardians.

2. Diseases appear as if from nowhere, without any precursors and corresponding conditions (if they are not worms).

3. Diseases tend to constantly recur (some children constantly suffer from tonsillitis, others with otitis media, etc.)

4. Diseases pass easily and too quickly, or vice versa, they drag on too much.

All this may indicate a psychosomatic basis for the onset of the disease, but not necessarily.

For example, in a family where a child is forbidden to show negative emotions (cry, scream, get angry, etc.), angina may well be a peculiar way to show parents that silence, shortness of breath and difficulty swallowing (the same happens when a child must suppress the "tantrum"), etc. It's not normal, it shouldn't be like this.

However, it happens that a child suffers from tonsillitis in a family in which it is allowed to show their emotions and it is customary to discuss and pronounce their problems. Then this suggests that the throat area is just a constitutionally weak spot in the body, so any fatigue, overexertion, etc. First of all, they "beat" there.

An analysis of a family case by a psychosomatic specialist helps to determine whether the illness actually has a psychological cause or a physiological cause.

Sometimes diseases are unconsciously projected by the child themselves, to achieve a secondary benefit.

From early childhood, the child learns the understanding that special "benefits" are provided to the sick person, in the form of goodies, attention, extra sleep and cartoons etc.

The older the children get, the more the secondary benefit becomes avoidant—not going to grandma's, not going to kindergarten, skipping tests, outsourcing your work, and so on.

All these options are weakly dependent on the mother's psychological state, and at the same time they are easily recognized and can be correctly explained and corrected by her.

Sometimes diseases are a manifestation of alexithymia or a reaction to taboo

And this is not so easy to recognize, but very important.

Due to insufficient vocabulary, inability to express their feelings with the help of words, and simply an elementary misunderstanding of any connections and processes in the adult world, the child expresses his experiences through the body.

Usually such topics become “non-discussable” or “secret”, for example, the topic of death, the topic of loss, the topic of sex, the topic of violence (psychological, physical, economic, etc.), etc. It is impossible to insure against this, and as practice shows, the same violence is and children with whom parents discussed such issues, and children with whom conversations were not conducted. This happens not only with older children, but also with babies. The first signs that something is going wrong can be abrupt changes in behavior, academic performance, nightmares, bedwetting, etc.

Sometimes diseases come to children through generations

From great-grandparents, and not from the psychological climate in new family. Psychological theories about hereditary pathological patterns, you most likely have already read. They are easy to imagine as an old joke, in which:

The granddaughter cut off the wings of the turkey, put it in the oven, and thinking about why such delicious parts should be thrown away, she asked her mother:

Why do we trim the wings of a turkey?

- Well, my mother - your grandmother always did that.

Then the granddaughter asked her grandmother why she cut the wings of a turkey, and her grandmother replied that her mother did so. The girl had no choice but to approach her great-grandmother and ask why it is customary in their family to cut the wings of a turkey, and the great-grandmother said:

- I don’t know why you cut it, but I had a very small oven and the whole turkey didn’t fit into it.

As a legacy from our ancestors, we receive not only the necessary and useful attitudes and skills, but also those that have lost their value and significance, and sometimes even turned into destructive ones (for example, the attitude of ancestors who survived the famine “there is a reserve”, cause childhood obesity). Therefore, at first glance, it can be quite difficult to find a connection with a specific event of the past, because. again, there are no special conflicts in the family, the mother is relatively mentally stable, etc. But it is possible)

Sometimes childhood illnesses are just a given.

It happens that parents lead an immoral lifestyle, smoke, drink, etc., and they give birth to absolutely healthy children. And it happens that a long-awaited child, born with love and care, is born with a pathology. Why this happens, no one knows for sure. Neither doctors, nor psychologists, nor priests, all only assume and often these versions exclude one another.

Pathology can be clearly expressed, or it can be indirect, and in this case there will always be someone who will “explain” to the mother that she thinks wrong, does wrong, etc., because “all diseases are from the brain, and childhood diseases from the brains of parents! If it is possible to tactfully explain to such people that “ worst advice unsolicited" would be the best option.

Of course, mothers of special children can very often wonder what they did wrong. And the answer here can be one - everything was done as it should have been done. Do not take the blame that "psychosomatic well-wishers" impose on you.

In psychotherapy there is such a direction of “positive psychology and psychotherapy”. It comes from the understanding that the events that happen to us are not initially bad or good, but simply the way they are. Any situation can be taken for granted, just as the fact that “yes, it happened and this is so” happened. And you can set the direction of development for any situation - “yes, it happened to us, no one is to blame for this, I could not influence this event earlier, but I can make every effort to direct our life with the data that we already have.” in a constructive direction.

And finally, I want to remind mothers that children who get sick often and for a long time do not necessarily have more psychological difficulties and problems in the family than children whose health seems ideal to us. The body is just one of the options for processing energy, including mental. Someone's child solves his problems and family problems through studies, someone's through character, someone's through behavior, etc. This, of course, is a reminder not for gloating, but for you to understand that if childhood illnesses happen in your families more often than in others, you need not reproach yourself for parental failure, but enlist the support of doctors and psychologists.

Psychosomatic disorders in children and adolescents (PSD) are a number of diseases caused by physiological and mental disorders. Psychotraumatic situations usually serve as an impetus for their development. A direct connection between physiological abnormalities and mental state was first proven at the beginning of the last century.

Common Causes

The scientist, the founder of psychosomatics F. Alexander identified the main group of diseases:

• Duodenal ulcer and ulcerative colitis.
• Bronchial asthma and essential hypertension.
• Arthritis, neurodermatitis and thyrotoxicosis.

Doctors call these disorders diseases of civilization and consider them stress-dependent. In children preschool age manifestations of disorders are most pronounced. Their body is not able to cope with the pathology, which contributes to the development serious illnesses. Here are the main symptoms, the causes of the appearance of RPS, and also give their classification.

Symptoms of psychosomatic disorders

The most common signs of psychosomatic disorders in preschool children and adolescents are complaints of neurotic pain in the heart, back, abdomen, muscles of the arms and legs. During a medical examination, usually no serious abnormalities are found. Analyzes may be quite normal or have minor changes. In some cases, the following symptoms may occur:

• lack of appetite, vomiting, bulimia, thirst;
• insomnia, crying for no reason, pathological habits;
• dizziness, shortness of breath, palpitations.

In addition, the baby may experience mental asthenia (nervous mental weakness). This disease manifests itself in the form fatigue, apathy, irascibility, memory loss, tinnitus and autonomic disorders. Psychosomatic reactions in preschool children usually pass quickly - they are caused by a strong emotional stress due to fear, resentment or other unpleasant circumstances.

Not always short-term manifestations are a psychosomatic disorder. Medical examinations for the presence of diseases of the internal organs must be carried out regularly.

Psychosomatic disorders in children: classification

Psychosomatic disorders are grouped according to pathogenesis, functional structure and meaning of symptoms. Main types:

1. Functional psychosomatosis. These psychosomatic disorders in children arise due to a single circumstance unpleasant for the child's personality, or due to regular experiences. They do not disrupt the functions of internal organ systems and do not cause damage, however, the manifestations can be very unusual: diarrhea and constipation, stomach cramps, anorexia (in adolescents), neurotic cough, cardiac arrhythmia, and so on.
2. Specific psychosomatic disorders primarily affect the physiological health of the child. They are characterized structural disorders internal organs, such as gastric and duodenal ulcers, diabetes Type 2, hypertension, coronary heart disease and more.

In order to identify the predisposition of the baby to psychosomatic disorders, experts use various methods psychological testing.

Causes of psychosomatic disorders

Any psychosomatic disorders develop as a result of experienced stress and because of the negative situation in the family or society. Causing factors are not always easy to identify immediately. They can become:

Psychologists have conducted many studies of PSR, which helped to establish a set of reasons that directly affect the development of pathology:

• hereditary factors.
• Individual personality traits (shyness, predominance negative emotions over positive ones, difficulties in communicating with others, etc.).
• on the personality of the child.

Parents and teachers should definitely try to establish a trusting relationship with the child, because emotional sphere children with psychosomatic disorders important factor when choosing a method of treatment of the disease and its diagnosis.

Treatment and prevention of psychosomatic disorders

AT modern medicine exist various techniques treatment of psychosomatic disorders. Patients are usually prescribed drug treatment, combining it with psychotherapeutic sessions.

For prevention, doctors recommend that parents create comfortable conditions for a child. This, above all, concerns the correction of the socio-psychological situation. The leading specialist in this field, D.N. Isaev, wrote a book in which you can find everything necessary recommendations on the prevention of psychosomatic disorders in children.

Self-treatment of psychosomatic disorders is unacceptable! Only a qualified doctor is able to save the child from the problem. The main task of parents is to prevent the disease and help cure it.

During studies of the disease, scientists found that in most adult patients, disorders are closely related to psychological trauma received in childhood. Timely treatment will ensure the full development of the child and help to avoid many problems in the future.

Much has been devoted to the study of psychosomatics as the cause of many diseases. scientific research. Unfortunately, psychosomatosis develops not only in adults, but also in children, and even those who are brought up in the most prosperous families. Often, the psychosomatics of diseases of childhood lies, as they say, on the surface, but often these causes are buried so deeply that one simply cannot do without the help of a specialist.

Why does psychosomatics of diseases appear

Frequent illnesses of children are a serious test for their parents. No matter how hard they try to protect their child: regularly visit a doctor, follow all recommendations, monitor nutrition, do not allow hypothermia, avoid visiting crowded places during a rampant SARS or flu. But there are children who seem to have been jinxed - no precautions help, every 2-3 months you have to take a sick leave. Parents of such sickly children need to know that their diseases are not always caused by any significant problems with internal organs. It often happens that even the most the best specialists, to whom they turn for help, cannot, when examining a child, detect serious pathologies. However, the child continues to get sick. It seems that he will heal, drink all the medicines, and his condition will improve for a while. But a little time will pass - and again complaints of all the same ailments, followed by another outbreak of the disease. In such cases, it is most likely that the phenomenon we are considering is a stable psychosomatic disorder. And this means that health problems are not only somatic, but also psychological reasons. And the help of a pediatrician alone is not enough, it is also necessary to consult a psychologist or a child psychotherapist: it is they who are engaged in identifying and eliminating the causes of the psychological level.

Psychosomatics of childhood diseases is one of the main problems of pediatrics of the present century. Number of children suffering from diseases gastrointestinal tract, disorders, diseases of the urinary tract and gallbladder, various allergies are increasing every year. And this despite the fact that in general the quality of children's medical care if it doesn't improve, then at least, remains stable. This means that the reasons for the psychosomatics of why children get sick are internal, they must be sought in the kids themselves, in their bodies, in their environment.

Psychosomatosis in adults is also developing more and more often. At the same time, studies show that the roots of psychosomatic disorders in the vast majority of cases go back to preschool childhood. This is due to the features emotional reactions in children in early age. By adolescence, psychosomatosis is already "blossoming". Disappointing statistics show that in the last decade vegetative dystonia observed in every third teenager, unstable blood pressure (onset of hypertension or hypotension) was recorded in every fifth child, every fourth is registered with a gastroenterologist, pulmonologist, cardiologist or endocrinologist. And such a traditionally age-related disease as vascular atherosclerosis, in recent times catastrophically younger - it can be detected as early as 12-13 years old. So why are children the first to be affected? psychosomatic diseases? Let's try to figure this out.

The emergence of child psychosomatics and the reasons why our children get sick are the same as in adults, and they are formed according to the same mechanism. Children are not always able to cope with negative experiences, an influx of negative emotions, a feeling of spiritual discomfort. They may not even fully understand what is happening to them, not know what word to designate what they are experiencing. Consciousness of such experiences develops only in adolescence. Small children, on the other hand, feel something vague, pressing on them, they feel dissatisfaction with something. But often they cannot complain, not knowing how to describe their condition. The situation is further complicated by the fact that children do not know how to shoot psychological stress, they are inaccessible to those methods that can be resorted to in similar situation adults. That is why psychosomatic disorders in childhood occur with much greater ease. After all, sooner or later the suppressed mental condition the child elicits a reaction physical level. This can be expressed in
the development of psychosomatosis, a persistent disease that will torment the child long years and go into it adult life. And there may be more short-term painful conditions- in those cases when the child unconsciously triggers a mechanism that leads to the appearance of painful symptoms whenever he is unable to cope with the problem that torments him in any other way.

Surely, many mothers have come across a situation where the baby does not like to go to kindergarten, is naughty, and cries. And after some time, realizing that his usual protests are not enough, he begins to complain of various ailments - either his stomach hurts, or his head hurts. In some cases, such complaints are pure water simulation and manipulation, but they are quickly detected and stopped by vigilant parents. But if the child really has various painful symptoms - cough, runny nose, fever, diarrhea, nausea, etc. - we can already talk about the development of a psychosomatic disorder.

The predisposition of a child to psychosomatic diseases should be considered as a complex of problems, including somatic, psychological and social aspects.

Somatic factors that determine a person's mental health and disease risk

Somatic factors mental development are those features of the child's body or those influences on it at an early age that form a predisposition to any particular disease. Somatic health factors include:

• genetic predisposition to a particular disease (the presence of such diseases in parents or close relatives);
• complications in the first months of the mother's pregnancy or any harmful effects on the course of pregnancy (smoking, alcohol, psychological trauma, infectious diseases etc.) during the period when internal organs unborn child;
• neurodynamic changes in the child's body, i.e. various violations activity of the central nervous system;
• staphylococcal infection in the first months of a baby's life;
• hormonal imbalance or biochemical abnormalities in the body of a child at an early age.

As a result of the action of these risk factors for somatic diseases, one or another body system may be weakened in a child. And as already mentioned, psychosomatic disorders develop according to the principle "where it is thin, it breaks there." This means that a psychosomatic illness does not arise arbitrarily, but chooses a weak link exactly where the body itself fails. But in itself, this failure might not have led to the disease, if not for the action psychological mechanisms. This is why researchers of psychosomatic disorders argue that, despite the unconditional significance somatic factors, the leading role in the occurrence of psychosomatosis is still played by social and psychological factors. These are external events and internal response to them, all the factors that determine a person’s somatic health and do not allow him to feel comfortable at home, do not allow the child to adapt normally in kindergarten and school, and prevent the establishment of equal relations with other children.

Early preconditions for psychosomatic illnesses

Recent studies in the field of psychosomatic medicine have shown that the prerequisites for psychosomatic diseases can be laid in children for very early stage during infancy and even during prenatal development. It would seem that such an assumption is groundless, the embryo does not yet have a psyche as such, therefore, there can be no question of emotions and experiences. But in reality, everything is not so simple. The emotional state of the mother during pregnancy has a very strong impact on the health of the child. It is difficult to say with accuracy whether the diseases really originate during the gestation of the fetus or whether they occur only at birth. But it cannot be denied that such a connection exists.

These data were obtained during the examination of the so-called "unwanted" children - when the pregnancy was unplanned and was perceived by the expectant mother as a bleak, burdensome event that violates her plans. Such children immediately after birth were found to have various somatic disorders related to classical psychosomatosis: bronchitis and congenital bronchial asthma, neurodermatitis, gastric or duodenal ulcer, various allergies, dystrophy, frequent exposure respiratory diseases. The fact that such a selection of diseases allows us to speak not about poor health in general, but specifically about early development psychosomatosis.

In order for the fetus to form and develop normally, it is very important to have a positive emotional condition expectant mother during pregnancy. To do this, she needs the support of her husband, relatives and friends. Any negative experiences, any emotional imbalance of a woman during this important period for her can serve as an impetus for the child to develop a focus of pathology. And this pathology will manifest itself either immediately after birth, or in the first months of a baby's life. Even if she herself future mom wants a child and is waiting for his birth, her emotional state is greatly influenced by the attitude of others around her. Resentment, outbursts of jealousy, lack of love and attention, a feeling of abandonment cause strong negative experiences, which, in turn, are reflected in the child.

All of the above applies not only to the period of pregnancy. Psycho-emotional state mother after childbirth affects the child with a vengeance. After birth, the baby becomes a separate entity from the mother. own body. But in the first months of life, the closest connection remains between them. Mom is everything for the child outside world, and he is incredibly sensitive to all the signals coming from this world. All the fears, worries, experiences of the mother are transmitted to him immediately. Physically, his body has already separated, but the emotional field is still one for two. Any negative that arises in this field seriously affects the well-being of the child and is directly the cause of the psychosomatics of diseases, because the baby does not yet have the opportunity to be aware of emotions, not to mention understanding what is happening to him.

That's why it's so important positive attitude mothers during pregnancy and after childbirth. And loving relatives, primarily the father of the child, should make every effort so that the woman is calm and happy, does not get nervous, does not get irritated, does not overwork. This is not only a guarantee of happy family relations, but also a way to protect the child from early psychosomatics.

Psychosomatics as a cause of childhood illnesses

Many diseases have a hereditary predisposition, objective reasons(impact of harmful external factors, infection), however, in most cases, diseases develop as psychosomatic under unfavorable conditions for children in the family. Features of the formation of the child's personality, his ability to adapt to kindergarten and school, peer group and previous traumatic situations are the basis of these diseases. The reasons why psychosomatics appears can be grouped as follows:

• general unfavorable living conditions and improper upbringing;
• increased nervousness of parents due to the unstable and stressful life in the modern world;
• the complexity of family relationships;
• a large study load of a child who is forced to spend many hours doing homework;
• assessment requirements for children and their division according to abilities (class performance, school attendance with a profile bias);
• rejection of the individuality of the child in the family and school, instilling in him standard norms of behavior;
• relations between adults are transferred to the children's social circle, where there is also a desire to be better, to dominate, etc.;
• increase the responsibility of children for their actions without taking into account real opportunities and inability to foresee much;

Psychosomatic disorders can be observed in newborns, preschool children, but they become most pronounced, starting from school years. During this period, the life of children changes significantly, new difficulties appear that they cannot cope with and react to them with illness. In families with broken relationships and improper upbringing, children often remain infantile. Unlike adults, they cannot leave, refuse to attend school, act contrary to the requirements of their parents, and suffer greatly from this. Every child has self-esteem and self-esteem, which he cannot protect, which also leads to illness.

As the baby grows out of diapers, and then begins to go to kindergarten, school, he is given less and less attention, and the demands increase. At the same time, the child's personal experiences remain unnoticed. Many children suffer from feelings of guilt, loneliness, despair, see themselves as failures and are humiliated. Sometimes this happens often and is not noticed at all by parents.

high risk psychosomatic manifestations in children to whom parents make excessive demands. They work hard to live up to their parents' expectations and see their peers as rivals and nuisances. The inflated self-esteem developed under the influence of parents forms in their character such negative traits as envy of other people's successes, a hostile attitude towards those who turn out to be better and receive praise from adults. Against this background, a "bilious" or "ulcerative" character is gradually developed. The digestive organs quickly respond to stress and negative emotions, and personality traits cause corresponding diseases (gastritis, peptic ulcer stomach and duodenum, ulcerative colitis). Children with such upbringing with weak abilities enter into a stubborn struggle, which reinforces psychosomatic reactions and forms a disease. They perceive all failures and blunders extremely painfully, and they do not understand body signals and do not want to give up.

Further, the vulnerable child develops tearfulness and resentment, and general well-being worsens as headaches, insomnia and other ailments occur. After all children's body experiencing enormous overload due to constant nervous tension. The child becomes conflicted - quick-tempered and demanding, and parents perceive him as an adult and obey him.

When brought up with emotional rejection, a child subconsciously develops low self-esteem, but he does not want to come to terms with it. Awareness of his own inferiority causes him protest and bitterness. He strives in every possible way to prove that he is better, achieves recognition and also spends disproportionately more strength on this compared to his capabilities. Such efforts lead to the suppression of the instinct of self-preservation and misunderstanding of one's body. Despite weakness, fatigue, painful manifestations, he persistently tries to prove to others that he is worthy of respect. Already at school, such children show ambition and incredible perseverance, but fail, constantly experience and earn health problems.

Another option for the inevitable emergence of psychosomatics is the instillation by parents of the child of the need for social success. It's getting the most important value for him, and he, in obedience, loses his childhood. The child is not interested in playing with peers, he prefers to communicate with the same serious children as himself, or adults. If the child has strong character, then he follows the path of an adult and achieves social success. A weak personality shows signs of psychosomatics. With such upbringing, the child already in kindergarten is distinguished by nervousness, increased irritability, and sleep disturbances. These children are found to have disabilities. digestive tract, level differences blood pressure, functional disorders of cardiac activity, neurocirculatory dystonia.

Often, the psychosomatics of why we get sick are provoked by anxious and suspicious parents themselves. Children raised by such adults develop similar qualities. He doubts his abilities, expects failure, does not fully trust his parents, educators and peers. He lacks such traits as envy and ambition, but he perceives any situation sharply and is afraid of everything. Trying to avoid failure, he strives to fulfill all the requirements, to do much more than his strength and capabilities allow. These children are driven by fear and are prone to heart, lung, and kidney disease.

A child with psychosomatics is ill with one or the other, sometimes it is not at all clear what is wrong with him. Worried parents are constantly busy with diagnostics, walking with the child to specialist doctors, watching for the slightest change in his well-being. They show attention to the child, almost all the time with him. But despite efforts, the situation is getting worse. In adolescents and adults, this habit is called hypochondria and occurs if a person constantly listens to his body, catching the slightest changes. He pesters doctors with requests or demands to heal, to alleviate suffering. No serious pathologies (at least corresponding to the described alarming symptoms) are not detected. Sometimes a person does not just look for a disease, increasing it to one degree or another in his mind, but actually gets sick.

Diagnostic procedures in this case can show any degree of severity of the disease. It is already difficult to call such a person a hypochondriac, since the disease really began to develop.

If painful manifestations are repeated in a child, then it is worth considering them from the point of view of psychosomatosis and identifying true reason emergence of psychosomatics.

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Modern parents are increasingly faced with a situation where one or another illness of the child - colds, intestinal disorders, allergies, and so on - comes back to him again and again, no matter what they do, no matter what they treat. And now all the resources are already involved, found the best doctors and no relief comes.

In this case, psychologists advise paying attention not so much to physiological state child, how much on his psyche. Today, a science called psychosomatics has been widely developed, which claims the existence of a connection between the psychological state of a person and his health.

What is psychosomatics

It is no longer a secret for anyone that the psychological state affects our physical condition. This relationship is called psychosomatics (the word consists of two Greek roots: psyche - soul, and soma - body).

But for some reason, many do not even think about the fact that children are just as susceptible to psychosomatic influences as adults. It is a mistake to think that since children's problems seem frivolous to us, it means that they are also easily experienced by kids. In fact, kids treat their troubles no less sharply than adults.

At the same time, it is much more difficult for a little man to express his pain. Especially if adults forbid fully expressing their thoughts and feelings: “You are a boy, do boys cry? You are an educated girl good girls don't scream like that."

The more categorical the statement of the parents, the more baby feels guilty, not only for how he expressed feelings, but also for the emotions themselves. As a result, in stressful situations, the child is left alone with his problems, and displaces them from the field of psychology to the field of physiology.

In this case, psychosomatic disorders occur in children. It is often very difficult to suspect a psychological basis real illness. But if the disease returns again and again for no apparent reason, it makes sense to consider psychosomatics as a possible explanation.

According to latest research, psychosomatic disorders can occur even in newborns. And some doctors suggest that in the perinatal period, psychological factors can affect the condition of the fetus.

It has long been noticed that unwanted children are often unnecessarily painful, weakened. Often they also have diseases that are difficult to cure within the framework of traditional medicine. Which suggests the presence of psychosomatics.

In general, for the fetus and children in the first months of life, the emotional state of the mother is of great importance. For a long time no one has tried to deny that there is a close bond between a mother and her child. The child feels the slightest change in the state of the mother. Therefore, stress, discontent, jealousy, anxiety can negatively affect not only a woman, but also her baby.

What problems can provoke the development of psychosomatic disorders in a child at an older age? Alas, there are too many of them. Lack of attention of mother, adaptation to kindergarten or school, constant quarrels at home, divorce of parents, even excessive care from adults.

For example, when the child's parents constantly quarrel or even preparing for a divorce, the child may become ill in order for the parents to at least briefly unite to care for him. The difficulties of the adaptation period in kindergarten are also known to many, and frequent illnesses At this time, parents simply do not pay attention. But if in those rare moments when the baby still goes to the kindergarten, he returns from there sad, and in the morning remains in the garden screaming and crying, it may be worth thinking about looking for a psychological background in frequent colds.

Children often get sick overly demanding parents . After all, during the illness, the child’s regime softens, and the load is significantly reduced. For a little man, illness - the only possibility relax.

Children may have great amount very serious and, at times, intractable problems, about which we, adults, may not know anything at all. And the child suffers, not always even knowing why he feels so bad and what he needs. And even more so, he is not able to change something himself. nervous tension accumulates and eventually begins to come out through a variety of diseases and problems of the body, thus freeing the soul.

How to understand what is the reason?

Doctors distinguish several groups of diseases that are most often associated with psychosomatics. These include colds, sore throats and bronchitis, allergies, eczema and dermatitis, intestinal disorders, even type 1 diabetes and oncology.

Moreover, according to the observations of experienced psychologists who often work with children suffering from psychosomatic disorders, the nature of the problem that torments him can be assumed by what kind of disease torments your baby.

So if your child constantly cold , he is tormented by a cough or runny nose, other disorders associated with shortness of breath, you have to find what exactly “prevents breathing” for your child. This may be excessive guardianship of adults and harsh criticism of any of his actions, and inflated (not by age or not by temperament) demands.

All these actions, as it were, enclose the child in a cocoon, making it difficult to live a full life. They make you constantly look around: whether he will deceive the expectations of his parents with his act, whether he will upset them, whether he will not cause a new stream of reproaches, accusations and criticism.

Frequent sore throats, loss of voice may indicate that the child wants to say something, but does not dare to do it. He may be tormented by feelings of guilt and shame. Often these feelings are far-fetched, are the result of parents' attempts to convince the child that this or that action is unworthy, shameful.

Perhaps the child had a conflict with one of the children or teachers in the kindergarten, and he believes that he himself is to blame for this? Or he misses his mother very much, but she has to work, and he is afraid to disturb her.

Anemia It is also considered a psychosomatic disorder in a child and may indicate that there are too few bright, joyful moments in his life. Or maybe the child simply doubts his abilities? Both, according to experts, can cause a persistent lack of iron.

Shy, withdrawn, nervous children are more likely to suffer intestinal disorders . In addition, constipation, abdominal pain may be evidence of an acute sense of fear.

More often than others nervous ground arise skin problems : allergic rash, eczema, dermatitis, urticaria. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to determine the cause of such disorders; a variety of difficulties in children cause such a reaction. Problems and tension are already bursting the child, splashing red and itchy spots on his skin, but what exactly is this problem? You will have to show maximum attention and tact to your child in order to understand and help him.

Treatment of psychosomatic diseases

The biggest difficulty in treating psychosomatic disorders in children lies in their diagnosis. Sometimes parents for months and even years do not think about the fact that the cause of somatic problems of their child lies in the tense state of the psyche.

Therefore, doctors, as a rule, have to deal with an extremely neglected state of psychological problems in little patient. Naturally, in this case, the treatment will be greatly complicated.

It has been a practice in European medicine for some time to refer children with recurring illnesses or frequent relapses chronic diseases for a consultation with a psychologist. This allows you to identify emerging problems in time and solve them. Unfortunately, this practice has not yet taken root in our country, and all hope in this direction is only for Attentive attitude parents to their child.

But it is not enough to suspect psychosomatic problems in your child. It is very important to make sure that there really is a relationship between mental and physical health child, as well as to pinpoint the problem to be worked on.

After that, you can begin to treat psychosomatic disorders in a child. Such diseases require an integrated approach. Doctor, psychologist and parents should become one team. Pediatrician picks up conservative method treatment, the psychologist works with the identified problem, and the parents support them in everything, carefully follow the recommendations and try to maintain a warm, friendly atmosphere at home.

If the child's problems lie in a prolonged adaptation period, it is better for one of the parents to sit at home again. This does not mean that the child will stay with him. In the mornings, he also needs to be taken to the kindergarten, but not for a full day, but for several hours, gradually lengthening these periods. In addition, if the child begins to cry and act up, the teacher will be able to call mom or dad and ask to come. Thus, the child will be convinced that the parents are always with him, love him and take care of him. It will be easier for him to overcome the current situation.

Most likely, parents will have to focus on building a more trusting relationship with their child. He should not be afraid to talk to you, share experiences, fears and grievances. He needs to feel that you are always on his side. And even if he is wrong, it is necessary to tell the child about this in a benevolent form, in no case criticizing or condemning him.

If the problem initially lay precisely in the psychosomatic plane, joint work on the health of the child will eventually give its results and the baby will get better.

Prevention of psychosomatic diseases

For psychosomatic disorders, prevention has special meaning. And the point is not only that such problems are easier to prevent than to cure. Mental health always needs more attention, because if a problem in this area is not tracked in time, it remains with a person for life. However, he may not be aware of it. But complexes, phobias and other disorders directly affect a person's life at any age.

It is of great importance for prevention lack of promotion of illness . Many parents make life easier for children in every possible way during illness, allow them more than usual, buy toys and remove restrictions on sweets. Of course, in such conditions it is much more profitable for a child to be sick than to be healthy, especially if there are other reasons, problems.

This does not mean that a sick child should not be attended to. Necessary, but not excessive. In addition, it is important to try to fill life healthy baby enough joys in which a sick child will be limited.

Balance workload and requirements . You should not expect only excellent grades from the child, otherwise every four will become a huge stress for him. It is also not necessary to occupy every free minute of his with some activities and circles. The development of the child should not occur at the expense of his own free time.

The modern rhythm of life leaves us almost no time for ourselves and our children. However, it is extremely important to find the time. Let it be only an hour or even half an hour, but you should devote it only to the child and his interests.

Remember that overprotection and constant bans can be no less destructive than complete absence attention. Leave your baby a personal space, the owner of which will be only him.

No matter how difficult family relationships are, try to make sure that this does not concern the child. Do not swear in front of children, do not shout and do not make scandals. Do not speak badly about those people who are dear to your baby.

Friendly calm atmosphere love and understanding in the family - the best prevention any psychosomatic disorders in children. Yes, and for adults, it will only benefit, because we are just as susceptible to psychosomatics as children.

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