Constipation is a delicate topic, and not always go to the doctor with it. When it comes to constipation in a child, then adults are more conscious - they almost always try to consult a doctor. But adults tend to solve a similar problem on their own.
Is constipation so safe and what psychosomatic reasons can cause it, we will tell in this article.
General information
Constipation is rather a philistine term. To designate a problem in medicine, other names are used - obstillation, constipation. This means a violation of defecation associated with a significant difficulty in this act, insufficient bowel movement.
WHO recommended that constipation be considered an independent pathology, which was even assigned its place in the ICD (International Classification of Diseases). But most gastroenterologists dispute this position, calling obstillation just one of the symptoms of a fairly large number of diseases.
Statistics allow us to see how urgent the problem is: up to 45% of the adult population suffer from obstillation from time to time, and mainly the elderly, 20% of children regularly suffer from constipation.
In order to understand what constipation is, it is important to know the existing medical standards: if a person goes to the toilet for "great" need from 3 times a day to 3 times a week, this is an absolute norm.
Constipation is often associated with a small amount of stool, increased hardness and dryness... A person does not feel obvious relief after going to the toilet. If a person is accustomed to emptying the intestines twice a day, and he has not had a stool for 2-3 days, they speak of individual obstilation.
Possible causes of defecation disorders in medicine are mainly called malnutrition with insufficient amounts of food rich in fiber and dietary fiber, a small amount of fluid consumed, a sedentary lifestyle and low mobility. Constipation also occurs more often in those who are used to abusing laxatives, in pregnant women due to the pressure of the uterus on the intestinal loops.
Violation of intestinal motility is also a common reason why the passage of feces is difficult. The psychosomatic component is also considered - constipation can be of a psychogenic nature, they are often referred to as “on the basis of nervousness”.
Psychosomatic causes
For normal stool in the human body, the work of the large intestine is responsible, in which feces are formed, which enter the rectum. This section of the intestine in psychosomatic medicine is considered as the body responsible for everything material - power, money, things, desire to keep everything under control. The stronger a person is attached to the material, the more difficult it is for him to part with something from the accumulated (including accumulated emotions, resentments), the more often he suffers from constipation.
The psychosomatics of constipation has always interested scientists and physicians. The world famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud paid great attention to this. There is information that he himself suffered from intestinal health problems, and therefore he was desperately looking for the psychology of this disease and the way out of it.
Dr. Freud and his followers, including modern researchers in the field of psychosomatics of ailments (Valery Sinelnikov, Grigory Semchuk, Louise Hay, Liz Burbo and others), were able to identify the main character traits of a classic patient with constipation.
The psychological portrait of this person is as follows:
- a person is greedy, sometimes to the point of stinginess;
- it is extremely difficult for him to get rid of something that has objectively become unnecessary;
- he is terrified of losing what he has acquired and earned;
- he loves to collect something, often saves money for a "rainy day", without an obvious visible purpose;
- accumulation for him exists for the sake of accumulation, he likes the process itself;
- a person has a desire to control everything and everyone.
Very often in closets these people have so many unnecessary things set aside just in case, that you involuntarily ask yourself a question, why not give what has become unnecessary to someone who needs it? But people inclined to hoarding do not even consider such an approach. And it doesn't matter whether a person has a lot of money or little, he has a good income or he lives on one pension, the habit of saving and not giving away does not depend on the actual material wealth.
Any gastroenterologist and therapist will confirm that very often such a delicate problem occurs in people who hold good positions and have high incomes. It's just that their accumulation has a scale of millions or billions.
The desire to control everything and everyone is a very common cause of constipation. And it makes no difference whether a person holds a post that implies power and the right to control others, or whether he has long been retired. The desire to control yourself, your children, your friends, relatives, your capital, your own affairs and the affairs of others can be characteristic of anyone... Such a person cannot relax, no matter how hard he tries. The sphincter of the rectum is also in tension.
A common trait for all constipated adults is unwillingness to part with outdated opinions and beliefs.... Try to convince a pensioner to pay for electricity and water without leaving home via the Internet. Or try to convince the old man that colored pants are in fashion today, which suit him very much. With a high degree of probability, you will find rejection of the very idea of something new. Is it any wonder after that that constipation is so widespread among the elderly (according to WHO statistics, they have obstillation 5 times more often than in all other age groups).
Habitual models, familiar dogmas and attitudes create for people the illusion of predictability and safety of space. People know that there will be no surprises if you stand in line for three hours and pay for electricity and water, nothing unusual will happen if you write letters not via the Internet, but in the old fashioned way, on paper. Constipation is always based on fear - the fear of losing, losing, letting in the new, parting with the old.
Adults and adolescents with chronic obstruction are rather stubborn people who know how to desperately resist external circumstances, without knowing much about the issue, without thinking that the new can only be for their good.
Childhood
At first glance, confusion can be caused by all of the above reasons, if we remember that infants often have problems with defecation. After all, they are not yet greedy, they do not accumulate capital, they do not know about new technology.
The main reason for constipation in infants is their ability to resist external pressure. The more mom and dad try to establish control over all the life processes of the baby (some even want the child to shit on schedule, for which they use thermometers, gas tubes, enemas), the more resistance this causes in the child. As soon as the baby gets the opportunity and the right to poop, not when the parents want it, but when he wants it himself, constipation usually stops.
At a later age, children use stubbornness and internal tension, up to the clamping of the anal sphincter, in order to do exactly the same - to rebel, declare a boycott, declare their disagreement to do something that adults force him to do. In our country, there is still no widespread practice of asking a child what he wants, and then mothers are surprised, while preparing dinner, that the baby is stubborn and does not want to eat.
Not all parents ask which section the child wants to go to, what kind of sport he wants to do, whether he needs Spanish and chess lessons. The child is simply sent to the place where the parents might have wanted to go themselves, but it did not work out. Sometimes additional activities are chosen for reasons of proximity to home or school. It is quite understandable why constipation occurs more often in these children.
A child cannot always show his stubbornness in some other way - with words, actions... He sometimes does not feel enough strength in himself to resist the decision of adults on equal terms. It is then that the rebellion is manifested by defecation disorders. note that more prone to constipation are children who are secretive, timid, who do not know how to honestly and directly tell the truth, who are used to hiding their feelings "deeper"... When a lot of experiences accumulate, the rectum is blocked, and it becomes difficult to bring out everything that has been deposited and needs to be disposed of.
Treatment
The more laxatives consumed, the higher the likelihood of developing chronic obstruction. Everyone knows this, manufacturers of laxative drugs warn about it in the instructions for the drugs.
Therefore, the most reasonable is a complex treatment, in which medicines will be taken only for an exceptional need. It is important to eliminate the psychosomatic cause of constipation, and then the stool will return to normal. You need to learn to share, including your feelings, experiences, to be more generous in the material plane, to be sensitive and attentive to everything new, not to be afraid to let everything new into your life.
If constipation torments a child, it is important to reconsider your adult approach to parenting - is there pressure on the baby, how often he is forced to do something through force, which he does not want, is there enough trust in the family so that the child can talk about his feelings.
