December 10, 2018, 12:10 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
When children frequently complain of stomachaches, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an illness behind it: The mind can also cause a variety of symptoms! What parents should watch for.
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Apparent symptoms of illness don’t always have physical causes. However, it’s wise for parents to first schedule an appointment with a pediatrician. This is confirmed by child and adolescent psychiatrist Beate Kentner-Figura. “For us as child and adolescent psychiatrists, the rule is always: Exclude physical causes first, then consider symptoms of a psychological disorder and weigh appropriate treatment,” says the chief physician of a psychosomatic rehabilitation clinic in Bad Kreuznach.
Stomachaches, Vision Problems, and Coughing Fits
Doctors suspect that anxiety or stress can trigger stomach pain by activating certain nerve pathways. Parents should not focus on the pain but rather provide distraction. Even with irritable bowel syndrome, there is no organic disease present. Here, normal stretching stimuli in the bowel are misinterpreted by the brain. Headaches and unexplained coughing fits can also be psychologically induced. It’s important to consider if there’s something in the child’s environment that is causing fear. Changing the cause often eliminates the symptom. A great help can be for parents to support their child.
Also interesting: How to correctly interpret pain in children
Always Take the Child Seriously!
Apparent vision problems can also occur in children. If a child complains about not being able to read words on the board and the eye doctor finds no vision impairment or eye disease, the problem may be psychosomatic. “It may be that a child is simply simulating to explain a failure or gain an advantage,” says Prof. Helmut Wilhelm, senior physician at the Tübingen Eye Clinic. According to him, he sees at least one such child in his practice every week. “This can become so entrenched that the child no longer knows they are simulating. Or they may not be aware from the start that they are providing false information.”
In such cases, it’s important for parents to take their child seriously–and not accuse them of just pretending. “What can be clever is a sham therapy,” says Wilhelm. This can build a bridge for the child to get out of the situation.