Fibromyalgia: The Answer Is Blowin' in the Wind
of research tells us that psychological and physical ill health move in tandem. What chronic illness does not affect us psychologically? Are newly diagnosed cancer patients not psychologically distraught? What about recent stroke victims? Does this make cancer and stroke psychological diseases? Of course not. The reality is that chronic physical illness begets chronic psychological distress, and vice versa. Numerous research studies have demonstrated alterations in physiologic function including immune response in those who are depressed(22-25).
The dramatic increase in mortality in the year following the death of a spouse(26-28) is poignant evidence that psychological distress affects us physically. This is all part of the biopsychosocial understanding of illness, a concept that is far better supported by current research than the biomedical model so many of us were taught in medical school.
Moreover, so-called "psychological disorders" are not without physiologic changes. Physiologic changes have been identified in and pharmacologic treatments justified for numerous psychiatric diagnoses including schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to name a few. As such, the distinction between physical and psychological illness becomes increasingly meaningless. The distinction between a physical symptom and a psychological one becomes more blurred. What is important is that all such patients are in distress, and that physicians can help (or hinder) if they so choose.
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