You probably heard or seen it before: you go to the doctor with some vague symptoms of an illness, they can't find anything and conclude it is all in between the ears, probably caused by stress. The professional term for that 'Somatization'.

This happened to me too in the past year, when I started having pains in the chest. Ultimately it turned out that I had some form of esophageal spasm. It was very frustrating to be given verbal and non-verbal signs that my discomfort probably was caused by stress, and I am still sort of angry about the ease with which doctors pass that judgement.

Anyway, the whole thing got me thing about somatization from a Socionics perspective. I have always known myself that my psychological discomforts could translate into physical discomfort. Stress, especially social stress, translate into tight muscles. But I was always aware of the psychological cause.

As I am getting older, I inevitably am more affected by minor physical ailments. Now here comes the clue: I have a tendency to ignore the physical roots of these ailments and threat them as if they were psychological problems. So when I have an upset stomach, I get sort of depressed and get stuck in a search for a behavioral solution, when in fact all I need is a glass of milk or a Tums. recently I am become more and more aware of this. As I just told me SEI GF, she replied that such is how she knows me.

People do not only somatize their psychological issues, they also psychologize their physical issues. And somehow I think this is type-correlated.

And while I am writing this, I have a feeling of deja-vu: haven't we been discussing this before?