Browse extracts from the book
Disorders of Blood
"...Emotional stress has been observed by us and others to have preceded the onset of
several disorders of blood and the reticuloendothelial system. A close time relationship
combined with the frequency of such an occurrence suggests that chance is an
unlikely explanation..."
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Pernicious Anaemia
"...Psychological symptoms of pernicious anaemia include apathy, dizziness, and feelings
of unreality; these are frequently misdiagnosed as depression and inappropriately
treated with psychotropic drugs until someone suggests a blood count. These
symptoms of anaemia and the postural hypotension from the associated neuropathy
are truly somatopsychic as revealed by their dramatic remission within a few hours
or days of vitamin B12 treatment...."
Infectious Mononucleosis
"...Here as in
other disorders in which viruses are involved, the frequency of infection with EB
virus is much higher than the frequency of clinical manifestations. Similarly, only a
small percentage of those innoculated with swine 'flu vaccine developed clinical
Guillain-Barré syndrome..."
Acquired Haemolytic Anaemia and Essential Thrombocytopenia
"...Both these conditions, in which antibody formation is involved, and of which infectious
mononucleosis is an occasional cause, might be expected to benefit from psychological
management of the precipitating condition of unresolved stress of
alienation/loss/mourning. However, to date we have been unable to provide conclusive
evidence that it does so. That may possibly be because the number of cases in
which the opportunity has presented is too small..."
Hypereosinophilic Syndrome
"...Mrs. D. M. Hypereosinophilic syndrome occurred in this woman when aged 35, 2 months after
her father's sudden death. She was the youngest of four children and the devoted younger sister
of the patient with Crohn's disease who died of cancer of the jejunum mentioned in Chap. 6.
That sister's prolonged illness began when the patient was only 4 years old. Her parents' anxiety
and concern resulted in relative neglect of the patient. She idolised her sick sister but not until
she was in psychological management four her hypereosionophilia was she able to acknowledge
her double feelings, i.e. hate as well as love. During her sister's terminal illness she had been
busy with three young children of her own and felt that she had not been as supportive as she
should have been. She had been unable to weep after the death, and 15 years later the fact that
mention of her sister brought tears to her eyes covered by a smile indicated that her mourning
was still unresolved. Her next loss was her mother, but because her ambivalence for the latter
was minimal she had got through her grief in few months. However, her father continued to
grieve but later remarried. She experienced a mixture of happiness for him but also a feeling of
anger that he was betraying her mother. Such were her feelings when her father died of a heart
attack only a month after his wedding. She took ill 2 months later with high fever, breathlessness,
dense shadowing in both lungs and an eosinophil count of 50% with WBC 18 000. Investigations
revealed no evidence of polyarteritis. Treated with corticotrophin in declining dosage for 9
months together with psychological management of her unresolved mourning, she remitted. Four
years later her doctor confirmed that she had remained well...."
Psychogenic Purpura: Autoerythrocyte Sensitisation
"...We have no personal experience of this syndrome. It may follow trivial injuries
contracted in everyday life but it has also followed severe bruising from beating.
Agle and Ratnoff were the first to note that these patients had severe emotional
disturbances antedating their purpura. They were also considered to have hysterical
and masochistic personality traits. It is reported that these patients profit from a supportive
relationship with a primary physician rather than by traditional psychotherapy..."
Thrombosis
"...Clotting of blood, while an essential part of the flight or fight response against
wounding in combat, or placental bed following childbirth, can, if excessive or inappropriate,
be a hazard to life...."
The Haematological Stress Syndrome
"...shifts to the left in WBC counts have been observed in people emotionally
stressed. Such a combination is one of the less known manifestations of giant
cell (temporal) arteritis. In these cases anaemia persists until diagnosis and
treatment with corticosteroids . As giant cell (temporal) arteritis is precipitated
by pathological grief and loss, it is not surprising that recent widowhood is a
common finding in this groups of patients and that many also suffer from depression...."