Do you know about psychosomatic medicine…?
In modern society, depression and suicide has become a social problem. Despite such a situation, there are many people who aren’t aware of such sicknesses. Also, not many companies actually address such psychosomatic illness for their employees with the exception of only a few companies.
As for the word “stress”, a Canadian doctor, Hans Selye first used it in “GAS, a theory of stress” which he proposed in 1936. Since then, the word has been used a lot as a medical term. Psychosomatic medicine is the one that takes care of such psychological and body illnesses which are caused by stress. In the dictionary, psychosomatic medicine is a subject of medical treatment which cures a neurotic and psychosomatic disease. It’s also implement both for the medical and psychological therapy.
30 years ago, it wasn’t known very well. It was more like mental trouble in a negative way. Therefore, no one casually went to see a doctor in comparison with the situation nowadays. The psychosomatic medicine became one of the hospital departments in 1996 when the Ministry of Health & Welfare approved it.
So then, the first psychosomatic department was established by Yuujirou Ikemi (1915-1999) at Kyusyu University Hospital in Japan in 1961. Psychosomatic medicine seems to have become popular after his book “心療内科 (psychosomatic medicine) was published from CHUO-KOURON SHINSYA”. The first edition was published in 1963, even if it was 50 years ago, there were people who were suffering from mental illness which was caused by stress. It has always been an issue for us and never changes. It’ is always challenging for us, isn’t it?
In the doctor’s book, he quoted a famous phrase from yoga as he pointed out that it had something to do with our mental illness. It was:
I imagine it.
I think it.
I believe it.
I live it.
This means, according to his book, that when you always imagine a situation, we become obsessed with it and we believe it. When you strongly believe it, things really turn out the way that you believed without even noticing. We are exposed to stress under this “situation”. So our mind creates an illness to tries to get out from there and creates such an illness without us even noticing. Well, if it’s true, you may have to consider your job and if it is really suitable for you or not, I think.
However, there is a way that you can lower your stress. It’s…“interacting with nature”. Also to open your five senses can help in dealing with your stress, too. For you who live somewhere in urban areas where there is no nature around…Why don’t you wake up early in the morning and feel the light of the morning's sun? It’ll help you to wake up your somesthetic system!
*Note: Dr. Yuujirou Ikemi had founded Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine in 1960 with a Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara who is now 100 years old and also Dr. Ikemi took up the first director position.
