Associated symptoms

The symptoms of psychological illnesses but also somatic subsequent complaints can be numerous. Psychological symptoms that are at the forefront of psychosomatic back pain are lack of drive, depressed mood, negative thoughts, limited performance, fear of social situations, heart palpitations, sweating, sadness, suicidal thoughts and many more. All of these can be accompanying symptoms of triggering mental illness, but they do not have to occur together or simultaneously.

Often psychological complaints can also arise unnoticed and run completely without symptoms or be suppressed by stress. Typical somatic illnesses and symptoms that can be linked to psychological complaints are functional disorders of the cardiovascular system, pain all over the body, intestinal and digestive problems, overweight or anorexia, bulimia, breathing problems, incontinence, tinnitus or itching. This is only a selection of psychosomatic symptoms.

If a psychosomatic back pain is already present, the probability of one of these symptoms is also increased. In no way, however, must one of these symptoms occur in addition to back pain. Abdominal pain is a common and very unspecific symptom.

In most cases it is caused by digestive problems and other temporary diseases of the intestine. In connection with psychosomatic back pain, however, other psychosomatic diseases must be considered in the case of long-term and therapy-resistant abdominal pain. The presence of a psychosomatic illness increases the likelihood of also developing irritable bowel syndrome or an eating disorder. Irritable bowel syndrome can be accompanied by flatulence, abdominal pain and digestive problems.Similar to psychosomatic back pain, irritable bowel syndrome can arise from various somatic illnesses and can be maintained through stress and psychological conflicts. However, before a diagnosis of a psychosomatic digestive disorder is made, all somatic causes must be reliably ruled out in each case.

Diagnosis of psychosomatic back pain

In the diagnosis of psychosomatic back pain, the first priority is to reliably exclude a somatic cause (physical). To this end, physical examinations, imaging procedures and other diagnostic tools should be used. Possible somatic causes of back pain can be disc protrusion, a herniated disc, muscle tension, vertebral body injuries or blockages of the vertebrae and back muscles.

Only when these causes have been ruled out, can a psychological cause of the somatic complaints be considered. The subsequent diagnosis is made on the basis of longer discussions and a psychotherapeutic consultation in order to uncover possible causes. Stress situations, emotional conflicts and other psychological causes can be discovered, analyzed and treated.

It should be noted that a lengthy and too detailed diagnosis of somatic causes can increase the psychological stress. After the exclusion of a herniated disc, for example, there should be no permanent follow-up examinations in order not to increase the symptoms. At the beginning of the psychosomatic diagnostics, of course, the safe exclusion of a potential somatic cause of the back pain must be made.

A chronic pain in the back, especially in the lumbar spine, can in many cases be caused by disc problems. Not only in older patients, but also in young people a herniated disc can occur and cause severe pain. To exclude the herniated disc, a CT or MRI examination must be performed to detect any bulges or tears in the intervertebral discs.

If a herniated disc is present, therapeutic steps have to be taken immediately, in rare cases also surgery. However, if no herniated disc is visible in the radiological image, a psychosomatic cause may be behind the symptoms. It is important in the treatment of chronic and psychosomatic pain that the somatic diagnosis of the intervertebral discs is not repeated unnecessarily if there is no reason for a newly occurring herniated disc. Repeated, unnecessary diagnostics can aggravate the pain and aggravate psychological conflicts.