A Introduction to some inconvenient truths
The term hypochondria is applied to any disease that doesn't show up on x-rays etc, and it is usually deemed that the symptoms must be trivial or imaginary.
That idea sounds believable to doctors and anyone else who doesn't have such ailments, but most patients don't believe it and are offended by such casual dismissal of their symptoms. That label is, in fact, more often used as an extremely offensive insult, or a put down, than it is used in either it's original ancient Greek meaning, or it's modern completely different definition. It is also deliberately used to shame people out of claiming their entitlements to insurance or compensation, and therefore cannot be passed off as a label of no consequence, as if to say - the patient isn't really sick therefore he doesn't deserve consideration, or he is not sick so there is no point in taking the matter seriously.
As the say, if the patient wasn't mad before the was treated, then it won't be long before the treatment drives him mad. There is also the concept that if you can drive the patient mad it will make it look as if the madness was the cause of the symptoms in the first place.
I wanted to determine if it was possible to find a better explanation, and everyone knows of people who have back aches that don't show up on x-rays. One of the interesting things that I found was that the cause of backaches is undetectable in most cases, and that it is officially considered to be unknown. However, at the same time there are statements in the medical literature that there is a condition called postural back pain, caused by faulty posture, and that there is no evidence of broken bones or illness, so obviously it is possible to have real pain when there is absolutely no x-ray evidence of disease. It is not realistic, or believable to routinely assume that everyone who has that type of back pain is a faker, a malingerer, or a mental case.
I also investigated a condition called Da Costa's syndrome which some authors try to put into the category of hypochondria, or somatoform, and dismiss it as trivial, imaginary, or all in the mind, or caused by anxiety etc.
However, when I studied that condition I found that many of the patients had thin physiques and spinal deformities such as stooped spines, and long, narrow or flat chests. They will say that they are not anxious, but their statements are generally derided and dismissed as being the 'self-reports' of patients which are not reliable. Nevertheless, their undetectable chest pains could be caused by postural compression of the chest, and their undetectable breathlessness could be caused by postural compression of the lungs etc, and the chronic problems could be caused by damage which is undetectable.
I then started looking through the medical literature of the past and found that I was not the only one to draw that type of conclusion, so, regardless of what my critics might say, there is absolutely nothing stupid, weird, irrational, or fringy about that idea.
I am saying that it is, in fact, a good explanation for many undetectable, but genuine symptoms and illnesses, and that it not the only one, but is one of many possibilities.
Unfortunately there are some individuals who would like to believe that all such problems have a psychological basis, and don't want anything else to be considered.
If you want to have a reasonable understanding of The Posture Theory in relation to the cause of one ailment called Da Costa's syndrome, you can do the following test of seven questions, and then read the answers at the end, to see how you scored. If you have any further interest you are welcome to use the index on the home page to find other topics that interest you. You can then do the larger test of 50 questions here
