Recent evidence-based research has shown the relationship between trauma (including neglect and sexual, physical or emotional abuse) and abnormal illness behavior. This association is more frequent in women, and the symptoms are usually neurological (chronic pain, headache), musculoskeletal (fibromyalgia), urinary-gynecological (urethral syndrome) and gastrointestinal (irritable bowel syndrome). These trauma-related problems are very common: over 30% of female patients who ask for a gastroenterological consultation were psychologically, sexually or physically abused in the past or in the present. In these cases, physiological and psychosocial factors interact in complex ways that foster the onset and duration in time of symptoms. Research has found that insecure attachment in women seems to mediate the relationship between somatization and psychological trauma. Repeated experiences of childhood abuse/neglect seem to foster a dismissing pattern (with the expectation that others will not meet one’s emotional needs) that limits the processing of the events, and promotes instead increased emphasis on, and reporting of, somatic concerns as a way to seek help from an attachment figure. This mediation is less evident in men, in which attachment and childhood traumas seem to foster somatization as independent factors. Data from a controlled study on 58 female patients from 19 to 75 years (M = 44) with functional micturition disorders (urethral syndrome) will be presented. In 65% of them, the urinary crises appeared for the first time or tended to increase in specific circumstances linked to stressful events or traumatic experiences originating from family problems (violent quarrels, separations, severe illness, death of a close relative), or from the loss of health status or social role (unemployment, retirement). In these patients, a specific inhibition of anger expression is evident (p<.01), indicative of a dismissing attachment strategy.
Baldoni, F. (2015). Psychological trauma, attachment, and abnormal illness behavior: findings from evidence-based research. MEDITERRANEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, SUPPL. N.1A, Symposia, vol.3(2), 133-134.
Psychological trauma, attachment, and abnormal illness behavior: findings from evidence-based research.
BALDONI, FRANCO
2015
Abstract
Recent evidence-based research has shown the relationship between trauma (including neglect and sexual, physical or emotional abuse) and abnormal illness behavior. This association is more frequent in women, and the symptoms are usually neurological (chronic pain, headache), musculoskeletal (fibromyalgia), urinary-gynecological (urethral syndrome) and gastrointestinal (irritable bowel syndrome). These trauma-related problems are very common: over 30% of female patients who ask for a gastroenterological consultation were psychologically, sexually or physically abused in the past or in the present. In these cases, physiological and psychosocial factors interact in complex ways that foster the onset and duration in time of symptoms. Research has found that insecure attachment in women seems to mediate the relationship between somatization and psychological trauma. Repeated experiences of childhood abuse/neglect seem to foster a dismissing pattern (with the expectation that others will not meet one’s emotional needs) that limits the processing of the events, and promotes instead increased emphasis on, and reporting of, somatic concerns as a way to seek help from an attachment figure. This mediation is less evident in men, in which attachment and childhood traumas seem to foster somatization as independent factors. Data from a controlled study on 58 female patients from 19 to 75 years (M = 44) with functional micturition disorders (urethral syndrome) will be presented. In 65% of them, the urinary crises appeared for the first time or tended to increase in specific circumstances linked to stressful events or traumatic experiences originating from family problems (violent quarrels, separations, severe illness, death of a close relative), or from the loss of health status or social role (unemployment, retirement). In these patients, a specific inhibition of anger expression is evident (p<.01), indicative of a dismissing attachment strategy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.