Psychosomatic Symptoms and Dysfunctional Family Organization

Abstract

Family organization (FO) has a significant effect on the well-being and healthy status of the family members, as well as we can often recognize dysfuntional FO in psychosomatic families (PF). The aim of my study was to explore the characteristics of the family structure in two illnesses with heavy breathing: (1) asthma bronchiale (AB, the classic psychosomatic disorder) and (2) panic disorder (PD that is already said to be a partly somatization disorder). It is remarkable that the preceding disorders are comorbid with one another, but at least PD is the most frequent mental problem in AB. In this way, I supposed if there is some kind of symptom-changing by patients linking to the psychosocial background. My theory was tested with Gehring's Family System Test (FAST) that was used both in static- and dynamic forms. There were 5-5-5 families in my research with a healthy, AB- and PD-people. The demonstrations of the families' dynamic representations were recorded on video for later analysis. My results confirmed particular patterns of the perceived family structures and behaviors in PF. In this way, more rigid family system, the family members' peculiar influence on the FO and role in the system were found linking to the (psycho)somatic disorders. Although further studies are needed to understand better the interactions of the individual factors.