The role of the mind in autoimmune diseases

Although it is not yet known for sure what causes autoimmune diseases, much progress has been made to clarify their etiology and how to address this problem. In this article we cover it in detail.

Autoimmune diseases remain a mystery to science. So far its symptoms and development are known, but what causes them is unknown. Also, it must be said that most of them can be treated, but not cured. There are hypotheses about its cause, but none of them are fully proven. What is known is that the mind plays an important role in these pathologies.

There is relatively well-known autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Others are a little less recurrent, such as lupus erythematosus, autoimmune thyroiditis or Guillaime-Barré Syndrome, among others.

“There is nothing in the mind that has not previously been in the senses.”

-Aristotle-

What is puzzling about autoimmune diseases is that they are the result of the body attacking itself.. The body behaves as if its own antigens were invading viruses, so it attacks them. In other words, the system of recognition of what is one’s own and that of others fails. This happens in people who are perfectly healthy and medicine still doesn’t know why.

Autoimmune diseases and psychosomatic mechanisms

Science indicates that autoimmune diseases are the result of multiple factors, within which genetics plays an important role. However, so far, there is no evidence that allows us to indicate its specific origin. On the other hand, it has been proven that the mind plays a decisive role in such pathologies. Especially in how the subjective experience that the disease produces is.

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At the moment, Autoimmune diseases are addressed by most professionals as psychosomatic diseases. This means that these are evils that have their origin in the mind and that take shape through the body.

There are different approaches to this. Some maintain that It is an essential inability to verbalize emotions. Others indicate that it is a defensive response against emotional disintegration. It is also addressed as a “body delirium”, whose antecedent is depression, or as a response to an insoluble conflict.

Whatever the approach, the truth is that the common point is the verification that there are realities that exist in people’s minds and that They find a way of manifestation through disease in the body.

Affects in autoimmune diseases

Autoimmune diseases set in motion a self-destruct mechanism. It is the body itself that stops recognizing the antigens that belong to it and begins to attack itself, as if what it carries within itself were threatening or dangerous.

The mind is so important in these processes that a new discipline has even emerged to treat these phenomena. This is called psychoneuroimmunology. So, the truth is that Autoimmune diseases are not only usually chronic, but they are also disabling. and can lead a person to death.

Studies suggest that those who suffer from this type of illness generally have a high level of depression, but this is not always evident. In other words, he may even be someone cheerful and vital, but deep down he carries a great dissatisfaction that, generally, not even he himself recognizes.

Another frequent trait is a certain inability to recognize one’s own emotions.. Either due to excessive intellectualization or rationalization of situations or because these are people who want to have everything under control and experience emotions as threats to their autonomy.

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Towards a solution…

Autoimmune diseases are insidious and significantly damage quality of life. They tend to be painful, difficult to assimilate and not very hopeful. The worst thing is that those who suffer from them go to the doctor in search of answers and, generally, they only find silence and palliatives, not always effective, for their suffering.

Although this has been reconsidered, the West has imposed the idea that mind and body are unrelated and sometimes even opposed realities. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that health and well-being are integral concepts, in which the physical plane is as important as the mental plane.

The way out for a person with an autoimmune disease is precisely to stop believing that it is a pill, a vitamin or some miraculous doctor that will restore their health. It is not that you should not resort to these solutions, but that your basic treatment must involve the intervention of a mental health professional.

All diseases have an emotional and mental component involved, but in autoimmune diseases this factor is absolutely decisive. The resistance to treating their illness as an issue of the psyche is, surely, the fundamental reason why they do not find relief. for their physical sufferings.

A resistance that is born from the mistaken idea that those who suffer from an illness with a mental basis do so because they are not strong enough and is based on an even more mistaken idea: this pain is an invention of the patient.