The mind in many traditions is the cause and reason of well-being and disease , it is the needle of the balance, it is the watershed and the basin in which intention is created, it is made strong, unassailable, beyond relationships, emotions. that can overwhelm and confuse.

The mind is the one who “holds the bridle of horses that can also go wild”, to make a parallel with the philosophical myth.

What happens when the body turns against itself , as in autoimmune diseases? Let’s see what triggers the body and mind   

The mind and autoimmune diseases: what happens in the person

The mechanism of autoimmune diseases could be explained, very simplistically, as a struggle of the body against itself , like setting off a time bomb on one’s person.

Obviously, there is no conscious will and it is also true that we do not yet know exactly the physiological mechanism that makes us go in that direction, nor the procedure that leads to a controllable or degenerative state. In summary, it is as if the  antigens become invading viruses. If we think of the body as a system, or rather the body-mind as a whole, it is as if the system went haywire ; it does not recognize what is proper to the organism and what is foreign to it.

Pathology is known to start in the mind and manifest itself in the body. Among the best known autoimmune diseases we mention systemic lupus erythematosus , thyroid diseases , psoriasis , sclerosis, arthritis , diseases affecting the gastrointestinal system, connective tissue diseases and vasculitis.

Genetics are known to play an important role among the causes. Science is looking with an integrated approach, which begins to take into account holistic disciplines as well.

One example above all: meditation . It seems that meditation lowers the levels of stress that can lead the system to “go crazy”, as it regulates and normalizes the brain waves, to return to that healing dimension that only gives inner silence .

Pain is not an invention of the patient and has very deep roots, grafted into behavioral habits that have consolidated at the expense of the well-being of the psyche and internal organs, since we are a single complex system. 

Resilience and disease

The autoimmune disease, the mind, the emotions  

In many cases, the onset of an autoimmune disease is traced back to a fundamental inability to verbalize one’s emotions. Upstream, there is also the inability to recognize them, call them by their name, see them as such.

In many cases, autoimmune disease is explained as a defense . What are you defending against? From what is called  emotional disintegration.

When an emotional conflict cannot be resolved, the mind goes into alarm and consequent defense. This creates stress that goes well beyond the threshold that can be managed in a healthy and functional way.

The approach to the disease cannot be that of a mere reduction of the symptomatic component. We need a total revision of emotional management, an opening towards the new, a concrete psychological support.

In this regard, we would like to point out the website of the APAI Onlus (International Autoimmune Pathologies Association) created with the aim of disseminating a specific approach to autoimmune pathology and helping those affected by it.