Does the word “psychological” make you angry and frustrated? So many people I have met with FND are very put off by any suggestion of a psychological component to this disorder. I’d like to try to change some of the thinking behind that reaction.
Psychology is nothing more than the study of the mind and behavior. If you are a living, breathing human, you are affected by the things that psychologists study. Psychological does not equal crazy, mad, or fake. It does not mean that you are making anything up.
Every illness has a psychological component. All that means is that your mind is involved in how you feel about your illness, what you tell yourself about your illness, and how you react to your illness. Our minds are involved in everything that we do. If you claim that you are not affected by psychological factors, something is very wrong with you. We all cope with illness differently. Some of us are stoic and refuse to ever admit we aren’t feeling well. On the other hand, we all know people who can’t wait to fill us in on every detail of all of their discomfort. Some people scream in pain, others cry, others shut down and you’d never know they are hurting. Which one is crazy? None of them. They are just different ways of coping.
Our minds are unbelievably powerful. Why not harness our minds to work in our favor? When we do that, we are using the science of psychology to help ourselves. There is nothing crazy about doing that. It’s one of the smartest ways we can cope with what life throws at us!
Understanding how we think about our illness and how we deal with it is crucial to our healing. We can use the power of our minds to get better. If we ignore what is going on in our heads, our minds can also make us worse.
What does the term “psychological” mean to you? Are you open to thinking about how your mind affects your illness?
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