Information session on “Psychosomatic pathologies” (open)
A child’s bodily symptom often arises in a situation of family conflict as an unsuccessful way of resolving it. The somatisation of affect and emotions acts as a style of family adaptation to difficulties and problems, as a stereotype, as a factor of avoiding failure or evasion of responsibility. The use of a symptom to gain benefits begins to be actively used in the child’s life as a reaction to any difficulties. Psychosomatogenic families are characterised by a poor psychological language and a tendency to deny the existence of psychological problems. Parents may encourage or prohibit the expression of a range of psychologically conditioned emotions, considering it unacceptable. In this way, the child learns that attention, love and support from parents can only be obtained by using the “Patient Behaviour”.
