Equolibri in bilico. Significati estremi di salute: il fenomeno della somatizzazione

The illness condition is an experience that puts us in front of life’s meaningless. We can say disease is something we cannot escape, because is intrinsic to our being mortal but, at the same time, the inter- pretation and the significance that we attribute to this particular path could change the perception of ourselves and the world around us. The experience of illness, in particular chronic illness, could raise multiple questions in patients, for instance: My condition of illness can change the way I experiment the reality and my relationships with others? Can I trust myself or my capacities to manage my everyday things? At the end of the day, I am myself even if I am ill? In other words, we can no longer recognize our body, the self-control could be more complicated, even if we continue to be ourselves, de facto. Thus, the condition of illness is so an implicit request of a significance, dramatically charac- terized by the possible absence of it. The situation is more complicat- ed when the body not only gets sick and inevitably suffers, but such suffering is not biologically explainable, but rather is the result of a somatization due to psychic pain. However, following the thought of psychiatrist Joyce Mcdougall, it is possible to understand how this phe- nomenon, although it may lead the patient to a deep loneliness, can be the main road to a more global healing, combining with an approach that includes storytelling and dialogue with the other.