Psychosomatyka – powrót do znaczenia traumatycznego dzieciństwa
Psychosomatics – return to the significance of childhood trauma

Summary/Abstract: The study returns to the classic approach towards psychosomatic medicine, considering the impact and significance of childhood trauma as a crucial risk factor for psychosomatic disorders. In the current psychosomatic approach, which accentuates the holistic nature of health determinants – i.e. combining biological and psychosocial conditioning – nearly all diseases are perceived as psychosomatic. When the factor of traumatic childhood is ignored in the analysis of a given stressful situation along with the person’s resources and coping strategies, the disorders that have been traditionally considered as psychosomatic are not distinguished as separate conditions. Simultaneously, some current concepts link modern psychosomatics to alexithymic traits and behaviour patterns (personalities type A, C, D, or A+C – anxiety plus aggression) and view these as a consolidated legacy of protective and adaptive strategies originating in childhood trauma. In this modality, their dynamics may be understood as a determinant of psychosomatic conditions. The paradigm presented by the author in this paper shows the continuity of childhood somatoform behaviour and the development of psychosomatic disorders in adults. The underlying adaptive and protective strategies, formed in childhood and modified in adulthood, are also determinants of the person’s attitude towards illness.

• Details
• Contents