Psychosomatic Illnesses: Philosophical Implications and the Current State of Research

This paper is an attempt to articulate the ideological differences among the sciences when it comes to understanding the relationship between the mind and the body, and specifically the brain. These ideological differences hinder the advancement of psychosomatic research because of the exclusive nature of the claims about the mind and body. The research surrounding psychosomatic illnesses seems to provide scientific evidence that the mind, or a person’s beliefs and thoughts, have the ability to cause physical changes. If this research is held to be legitimate, it would be unethical for those professionals in the business of healing and helping others to continue to operate under the biomedical model. Instead, due to the findings of placebo theory, biofeedback, and advances in cognitive psychology the patientfocused professional ought to recognize the individual as a psychological, social, and biological being. Doing so may form unity among the sciences and thereby advance research.