In an article published on the website of the College of Social Work at the University of the...
Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common form of autoimmune arthritis. It affects women more often (about 75% of cases) and most often begins between the ages of 40 and 60. This is a chronic, progressive disease in which the immune system makes a "mistake" and begins to attack its own joints - as if they were some kind of dangerous enemy.
Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis include pain, swelling, stiffness, and decreased mobility. Small joints of the hands and feet are often the first to be affected. In the morning, it feels as if the body has become alien, petrified, and it takes a long time to "walk away" the pain. This morning stiffness is a characteristic feature of rheumatoid arthritis, which lasts for more than an hour and sometimes all day.
But this pain is not only physical. It often hides years of suppressed emotions, losses, unrealized anger, and fatigue from the struggle.
As early as 1892, the prominent British physician Sir William Osler noted that rheumatoid arthritis often occurs after severe grief or emotional shock. Franz Alexander, the father of psychosomatic medicine, included this disease in his "big seven" psychosomatic diseases. Modern research only confirms this idea: in the vast majority of cases, psychotherapy is a critical part of treatment.
Joint pain is pain from the inside. It is unspoken anger that has been "frozen" for years; it is sadness that has not been given the right to be lived; it is powerlessness that has closed in the body. The joints lose mobility, just like a person who has lost flexibility in their relationship with themselves and the world. Excessive responsibility, self-sacrifice, the constant need to "keep everything on one's shoulders"-all this gradually begins to be reflected in the body.
Rheumatoid arthritis requires not only medications but also deep psycho-emotional work. Without the awareness and transformation of internal conflicts, there is only temporary relief. Therefore, in the modern approach to treatment, methods that work not only with the body but also with the soul play an increasingly important role.
Among the effective areas:
Psychotherapy - helps to work through deep internal conflicts, repressed emotions, unconscious anger or guilt.
Ketamine infusion therapy - has a powerful anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, affects neural connections, and helps to "restart" the emotional perception of pain.
Transcranial electrical brain stimulation (TES) - reduces anxiety, stabilizes the mental state, and has an analgesic effect.
Neurorehabilitation ("Neurohelp ") is aimed at restoring the functioning of the brain and nervous system.
Body-oriented therapy - helps to regain connection with the body, recognize and release accumulated emotions.
Kinesiotherapy - restores mobility, restores confidence in the body, reduces pain.
When therapy unites the body, mind and psyche, it is not just relief. There is a chance for real healing.
Assistance in restoring psychological balance and resources.
Working with anxiety, physical symptoms and fear of losing control
Modern methods of overcoming fears that interfere with life.
Therapy for people with post-traumatic experiences.
A health disorder that occurs due to somatization, that is, the "embodiment" of negative emotions in the body.
Psycho-oncology is psychotherapeutic care for patients with cancer.
In an article published on the website of the College of Social Work at the University of the...
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