#somatic disorders

[bodyalive]

WHY THERAPISTS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HYALURONIC ACID. Part II: HA in Superficial and Deep Fascia and its Re-Lubrication

This is Part II of SOMI's article about recent scientific data, which illuminates a little-known aspect of Somatic Rehabilitation: the critical role Hyaluronic Acid plays in the normal function of Soft Tissues and the necessity of supporting its production and fascia re-lubrication.

https://www.scienceofmassage.com/2024/03/why-therapists-need-to-know-about-hyaluronic-acid-part-ii/?v=7516fd43adaa

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“Thus, all muscle dysfunctions are the consequence of fascial tension, so treating somatic disorders as pure muscle abnormalities is a dead end if the therapist targets the muscles only, using various techniques and modalities (Trigger Point Therapy, Muscle Energy Techniques, Neuromuscular Therapy, etc.) becomes a dead end. Decompressing superficial and deep fascia is the critical initial step of successful somatic therapy. Working on the muscles only brings temporary relief, allowing trigger points to go to a latent or sleeping state and later be reactivated, eventually forming irreversible degenerative changes in the muscles in the form of myogelosis.” from the article

(Private Page for Structural Integrators)

[psychinfo]

Somatic disorders may be diagnosed in cases where people are experiencing physical symptoms with no identifiable medical cause.  It’s very important to note that in Somatic Symptom Disorder and Conversion Disorder, the individual is experiencing very real symptoms that often cause significant distress.  Somatic disorders are one way that we are able to see that the body and mind are connected and have heavy influence on each other!

Want to see more?  Check out my other DSM-5 posts by clicking the links below!

Paraphilic Disorders

Personality Disorders

Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders

Feeding and Eating Disorders

Critiques of the DSM-5

[whatshouldwecallarttherapy]

I recently received a message from someone asking about dealing with chronic pain. The message reads as follows:

Basically I’m in pain nearly 24/7. It’s always at least an 8 on the pain scale, and yet I force myself to “function” even if it means feeling worse later. Then once I break down people get angry with me and say that I’m just making it up because “no one would ever be able to function with that much pain” so surely I’m making it up. But if I actually show it then they call me lazy and fat and making things up still. I feel really sick and in a lot of pain to the point that I can’t eat. I’m scared that I might have relapsed back into self-injury, because of how well I am functioning even with this amount of pain. Several of my friends have also brought it up, because they know they have seen me go on to play soccer even after cutting the bottom of my feet. How can I tell if I need to get help again? And what can I do? I’m tired of making my pain worse but I’m also so tired of people yelling at me. And how can I tell if I’m hurting myself on purpose again?

Due to some Tumblr quirk, unfortunately I cannot directly reply to your message, but please find my response below:

What are you describing sounds like a somatoform disorder or a pain disorder. Basically this means that you experience pain that cannot be explained by a medical cause or other mental illness. It can be common for people to believe the symptoms of a somatic disorder are made up. No one else can truly know what it is like to live with your specific symptoms, which can be incredibly frustrating to try and convey your experience to someone who doesn’t believe you. And when you do express your pain, you experience the opposite reaction of people telling you that you are overreacting. This reflects more on them than it does on you, of course, because you cannot control what other people say or how they react. This does not excuse their behavior or treatment of you, because everyone deserves to feel deeply cared for and understood.

I think that sometimes people truly can learn to function with that much pain. It becomes a tolerance just like an addiction or exercising. Most treatments of somatic disorders involve CBT therapy but yoga and art therapy are also effective. There are sometimes subconscious explanations for pain, such as Freud’s classic “unconscious desires,” Jung’s “unconscious conflicts,” and even repressed trauma.

You should be able to tell if you are currently self-harming, as this is an active rather than passive coping skill. The actual tolerance of this pain does not necessarily qualify as self-harm. It might be helpful to talk to a professional about these problems because it sounds like it is causing significant distress and interruption in your life. If you have been in therapy before, getting in contact with them might be a good place to start. If there is someone in your life you really trust, talk to them about seeking professional help. Pain disorders are frustrating because you are the only person who knows what it is like to live in your body, with your own thoughts and emotions. The most you can do is to try and fully express your discomfort to someone. An understanding and effective therapist will help guide you through the process of treatment.

If you are in the US, there are some resources I found online that might potentially be of service to you:

American Chronic Pain Association  [phone]

American Pain Foundation  (888) 615-724

http://www.recovery.org/topics/find-the-best-dual-diagnosis-recovery-program-for-somatoform-disorders-and-substance-abuse/

I do not know anything about these foundations, so it is best to research them to see if they might help you with what you are looking for. The best thing to do would be to reach out to someone you really trust and simply state that you need help. It’s not always easy to make yourself this vulnerable, but it might be the first step in finding long-term solutions.

[normotic-blog]

IS ANYONE AWAKE THAT HAS A COPY OF THE DSM 5 THAT COULD TELL ME THE CODE FOR CONVERSION DISORDER?  this is urgent i need it for a paper tomorrow morning pls i forgot to copy it down and the library is close

please tumblr??

[dissociationawareness]

Since there is no consistent agreement about precisely what dissociation "is", it was Cardena's valuable contribution to provide an elaborated and systematic overview of the various uses of the term (18). He described dissociation in three distinct ways: as a lack of integration of mental modules or systems, as an altered state of consciousness, and as a defense mechanism. While the third category largely reflects the function of the other two, the first and second category qualitatively differ from each other. The majority of recent conceptualizations converge on this dichotomy, and it has been suggested to label these two types of dissociation as "compartmentalization" and "detachment" (28,50).

Compartmentalization is characterized by a partial or even complete failure to deliberately control processes and take actions that can normally be influenced by an act of volition, e.g. an inability to bring usually accessible information into conscious awareness. It is constitutive for this category that the "compartmentalized" processes, information and functions continue to "work" normally (apart from that they are inaccessible to volitional control); thus, they keep influencing emotion, cognition and behavior. Clinically, the manifestations of compartmentalization comprise dissociative amnesia and conversion symptoms, possibly even other instances of the so-called "somatoform dissociation" (51).

In contrast, detachment is defined by the subjective experience of an altered state of consciousness characterized by "alienation" of oneself or the external world. During these altered states, there is often an absence or flattening of emotional experiences. On a descriptive level, detachment becomes evident as derealization and/or depersonalization, e.g. out-of-body experiences. These phenomena have been associated with trauma and PTSD, and detachment shares numerous similarities with the concepts of peri-traumatic dissociation (i.e., dissociative experiences during a traumatic event) and emotional numbing (28). It was even suggested that intrusive memories and flashbacks may be explained by peri-traumatic detachment: the altered state of consciousness characteristic for detachment may interfere with the encoding and consolidation of (traumatic) information, resulting in poorly integrated representations which themselves are considered vital in the development of intrusions (52).

[...]

Some critical aspects should also be outlined. It has been claimed that patients with somatization and conversion disorders, which are considered the clinical manifestations of compartmentalization, do usually not exhibit symptoms of detachment (7,54). However, numerous clinical studies have demonstrated high levels of dissociative experiences in patients with conversion disorders in general and those with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (pseudoseizures) in particular (60-63). From a clinical point of view, it might even be difficult to draw the line correctly between detachment and compartmentalization. For example, a patient's experience of perceiving his environment as if he is looking through a tunnel might be interpreted as both derealization and conversion with a continuous transition (64). Another critical issue relates to dissociative amnesia, which is considered as representing compartmentalization in that there is a failure of volition to bring specific memories into conscious awareness (i.e., a retrieval deficit). However, in some cases detachment as an altered state of consciousness might interfere with the encoding and storage of information, particular in cases of traumatic material (28). Thus, dissociative amnesia might be due to either compartmentalization (i.e., retrieval failure) or to detachment (i.e., encoding and storage deficit) or even both. Again, it becomes obvious that it is not always easy to disentangle the proposed types of dissociation.

[...]

Despite its clinical importance, dissociation represents a semantically open term leading to conceptual confusions which - in turn - might restrict its value. Thus, it is fortunate that recent developments have attempted to refine current conceptualizations. These approaches converge in subdividing dissociation into qualitatively distinct types, i.e. pathological versus non-pathological dissociation and detachment versus compartmentalization. However, the scientific and clinical value of these promising refinements of the dissociation theory remains to be proven.