The Psychology Of Arthritis
Arthritis
The Psychology Of Arthritis
Arthritis refers to the condition of inflammation around a joint space. A joint is a place where two or more bones come together for the purpose of facilitating a movement (though there are some joints that do not allow any movement).
Though there are various reasons for causing arthritis, there are certain arthritic conditions that may necessitate medical intervention. Hence, we suggest that you seek a medical opinion for all cases or arthritis and we will be suggesting management of only diagnosed cases of Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis.
Osteoarthritis
This is a degenerative condition that occurs due to the wear and tear in and around the joint spaces.
The reasons for increased degeneration of a bone are;
- Weak bones – Weakness of bones that can occur due to nutritional deficiencies must be corrected by correcting the diet. Psychological reasons may include demotivated states leading to a lack of physical exercise, which affects the regenerative function of the bones, further leading to bone weakness.
- Increased strain on the bones arising from;
- Obesity – reasons for which have been mentioned under obesity
- High sense of responsibility towards others with usually an inability to say a NO. these are the individuals who usually compromise on their own comforts and end up hurting themselves while taking more care of others. Reasons could be either a highly compassionate behaviour or an inability to hurt others coming from some deeper anxieties.
- A high demand for perfection and success coming from some deeper insecurities that can make a person being often physically overactive or glued to a chair often in a wrong posture.
Assuming a wrong posture can put uneven pressure on the bones, accelerating the process of degeneration which could simply be a physical factor. Overuse of electronic gadgets can be an addiction, whereas inability to take the necessary breaks in-between work could be a sign of some anxieties; both coming from some deeper covert insecurities.
Rheumatoid Arthritis & Ankylosing Spondylosis
Though there is a variation in the intensity of these affections, both are related to the category of auto-immune conditions.
The function of our immune system is to protect us from any foreign body that could be harmful for our health and existence. Every normal cell of our body has its unique identity marker (antigen), a record of which is available with our certain white blood cells. This is why our immunity recognizes our own cells and do not harm them. Rather whenever there is a new cell/organism that enters our body, our immune system recognizes it as a foreign body and attacks it as an intruder.
Auto-immunity occurs because of some damage that occurs, damaging the identity markers of our own cells, leading to a failure of our immune cells to recognize them as our own. The result is an attack on our own cells.
The reasons for autoimmunity are not yet completely understood, though there is growing evidence that many of our health conditions, e.g. hypertension, migraine, psoriasis, etc. could be auto-immune in nature.
Psychology of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylosis
The damage to a cell wall, increases with the level of activity and the strain on a cell, which can also be related to the aging of our cells. Overuse of our body along with lack of proper rest, which has become quite common nowadays could be one reason towards this predisposition. Another factor that is commonly observed is the extremely high levels of emotional sensitivity coupled with lack of their ability to express themselves (suffering in silence).
