alex3619
Senior Member
- Messages
- 13,810
- Location
- Logan, Queensland, Australia
I would call being hit by a lorry a big physiological stressor. Even PTSD arises when serious trauma, from physical to cognitive or emotional, leads to changes in the physiology of the brain, changes which are measurable. Indeed many "psychological" disorders now have substantive physiological processes being discovered. The idea that its all about thoughts is not substantiated. Ever. Just claimed. Its an open question as to how much thoughts are involved, not a done deal. Its entirely possible that it is all biology, or nearly all biology (though I consider thought to be biological function), and its looking very much like that will prove to be the case for most if not all "mental" diseases.
There have been attempts to prepare people to cope with traumatic events by preparing them psychologically. Is there any evidence this has worked? I don't recall reading any. Even if this worked, its not a solid argument for psychological causation.
There are indeed grounds to argue that some ways of thinking are better in some circumstances when particular outcomes are considered. Yet this has not ever been reliably demonstrated to have substantive impact. Much of the literature claiming that it does is under serious question, and some has been disproved.
What I do think is the case is that the brain can be sensitive to many factors, some of them neurological, some of them immunological, and some of them hormonal, and yes some are thoughts. Yet the impact of each will be determined by the structure of the system. None of them are magic. The failure of psychosomatic medicine to pursue this line of research in favour of vague waffle is in danger of discrediting the entire field, and psychiatry as well. Medical doctors not coming to grips with these issues is in danger of discrediting the entire medical profession. I do not doubt some doctors are coming to grips with these issues, but they seem to be in a minority.
There have been attempts to prepare people to cope with traumatic events by preparing them psychologically. Is there any evidence this has worked? I don't recall reading any. Even if this worked, its not a solid argument for psychological causation.
There are indeed grounds to argue that some ways of thinking are better in some circumstances when particular outcomes are considered. Yet this has not ever been reliably demonstrated to have substantive impact. Much of the literature claiming that it does is under serious question, and some has been disproved.
What I do think is the case is that the brain can be sensitive to many factors, some of them neurological, some of them immunological, and some of them hormonal, and yes some are thoughts. Yet the impact of each will be determined by the structure of the system. None of them are magic. The failure of psychosomatic medicine to pursue this line of research in favour of vague waffle is in danger of discrediting the entire field, and psychiatry as well. Medical doctors not coming to grips with these issues is in danger of discrediting the entire medical profession. I do not doubt some doctors are coming to grips with these issues, but they seem to be in a minority.