An article recently caught my eye. Here's a summary of the article. The elementary school student who listened to the teacher's continuous verbal abuse had a leg paralysis that she had not been able to walk. The comments on the article were varied. Words that criticize the teacher, saying that you should not listen to only one side, but also listen to the teacher. And many of these comments were these contents.

'Are you psychic enough to paralyze your legs?'

'If my leg is paralyzed, I'm going to get medical coverage.'

'Wrong is to be considered, but the fact here is that no amount of verbal abuse can paralyze your legs.'

I do not know the details of the case. And as the parents insist, we do not know whether the teacher's continuous verbal abuse is a direct cause of a child's leg paralysis. Since you did not see your child, you do not know if the actual condition exists and what the diagnosis is. But as a psychiatrist, when it comes to medical facts, it's quite possible for mental stress to cause leg paralysis.

These mysterious, somehow deceptive and somehow miracle-like cases have been steadily reported in the psychiatry for over 100 years and are now classified as specific diseases. In particular, Freud, the starting point of modern psychiatry, led to the development of psychoanalysis. In this case, Freud's first free association was a case where her leg paralysis began at her sister's funeral. Although she adores her brother and only pushed her affection under her guilt with her guilt, she thought that her brother had become a free body at her sister's funeral. Psychological internal conflicts resulting from the intense conflict between these two feelings, affection for the brother and the guilt felt by her sister, turned into physical symptoms, resulting in leg paralysis. The disease was named after the transition disorder. There are various interpretations of the meaning of this paralysis produced by the unconscious. It could be a punishment for one who thought not to do it, or he might have created a reason for not being able to marry his brother-in-law, or it could be a tool for caring about paralysis and forgetting his inner conflict.

Is it too old and is it a special case?

Sudden loss of vision, or paralysis of arms or legs, leading to the emergency room, but no abnormalities found in ophthalmology or neurology, and seeing the psychiatrist is happening now. There are also differences in the degree to which psychological stress is a physical symptom that is common in our daily lives. Beginning with the saying, 'Your cousin hurts your stomach,' countless people experience abdominal pain or headaches before an important job or test. It is common to receive anti-anxiety medications from internal medicine due to chronic indigestion, and some antidepressants that are effective in pain are prescribed more in neurosurgery and pain clinics than in psychiatry.

Of course, being stressed and having severe internal conflicts does not mean that everyone will experience these symptoms. Therefore, many people naturally think of the possibility of malaria in their heads. In fact, there are a lot of people with malaria. People come to the hospital for the second benefit. Perhaps someone who complained of severe memory loss after a minor traffic accident for insurance purposes, who had been hearing for the purpose of avoiding enlistment, and who insisted on a paralysis for the purpose of leaving the prison and staying in the hospital. It's not just one or two fake patients in my head passing by now.

However, somatic symptom disorders (collectively referred to as the somatic disorders, somatoform disorders, etc.) or transition disorders are clearly different from malaria. It does not aim for secondary gains and intentionally produce symptoms, and therefore it does not consciously control symptoms. I can't talk about it in detail, but there are some psychiatrist-specific weapons that will tell you whether or not they are real. You may think you've deceived the doctor perfectly, but you can't say that you know most of the time, 'Your diagnosis is a disease.'

Modern medicine also reveals that these unexplained abnormalities in physical function are not solely due to psychological action. Several studies have shown that in the case of conversion disorders, the connection between both cerebral hemispheres is reduced, and that the brain's ability to perceive body sensation is blocked by excessive elevation of the stress hormone cortisol. This may be related to the tendency to develop more between 10-15 years of age than in other age groups. If the immature brain, which is still developing, is under severe stress, these body function errors can occur. Sufficient rest also usually recovers from symptoms within two weeks, which is also associated with normalization of stress hormones.

The mental world of the brain and man is a mystery. Too many things are still unknown. On the one hand, I think of this. It may seem strange that your legs are paralyzed by severe mental stress, but is it even more strange to say something that hurts and convinces a child who has never seen a face?

# In-It # In-It #Kim Ji Yong