Mastopathy (fibrocystic breast disease) is a disease of the mammary gland based on the proliferation of connective tissue. The following types of this ailment are distinguished:
- involutional,
- diffuse,
- nodular,
- fibrous,
- glandular,
- cystic,
- fibrocystic, etc.
Symptoms of mastopathy at the initial stage include:
- feelings of discomfort and heaviness,
- increase in size and breast pain before menstruation,
- mood changes (irritability, anxiety, depression).
Signs of the advanced stage: constant breast pain, strong pain upon touch, pain area reaching the armpits and shoulders, breasts feel heavy and enlarged, transparent or bloody nipple discharge.
Among the causes of mastopathy are:
- hormonal imbalance,
- heredity,
- inflammations of the pelvic organs,
- infectious diseases of the genital organs,
- childlessness or having one child,
- late first pregnancy,
- abortion,
- refusal to breastfeed or breastfeeding for less than 5 months,
- breast injuries,
- use of hormonal drugs,
- unhealthy habits,
- lack of iodine,
- chronic liver diseases,
- stress and negative experiences.
In medicine, the following risk groups among women have been identified:
- age-related: women with early menstruation, late menopause, teenage girls, women;
- pregnancy-related: women with infertility, childless women, women with one child, women with pregnancy after 30, women who have had an abortion;
- related to sexual life: lack of sexual life, irregular sexual life, sexual dissatisfaction;
- related to hormonal imbalance: women with disrupted levels of sex hormones, thyroid hormones;
- related to metabolic disorders: overweight women;
- related to gynecological diseases: women with diseases such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, polycystic ovaries, pelvic inflammations;
- related to chronic diseases: women with chronic thyroid and liver diseases;
- genetics: women with a family history of breast or genital cancer;
- external factors: women living in areas with poor ecology, alcohol-consuming women, smoking women, women engaged in stressful jobs;
- psychological factor: women prone to depression, neuroses.
Psychosomatics of Mastopathy
Increased nervous tension leads to hormonal failure: there is a lack of the hormone progesterone and an excess of estrogen, under the influence of which breast cells proliferate intensively, leading to tissue proliferation.
Mastopathy can also be caused by an excess of the hormone prolactin, which also begins to be produced in large quantities due to a woman’s depressed psycho-emotional state. Thus, excessive production of some hormones and insufficient production of others can lead to pathological changes in a woman’s breast.
In psychosomatic terms, this means that the prolonged excess of certain female emotions and the prolonged lack of others are manifested physically as mastopathy in women. To identify the emotions and experiences that negatively affect the health of the breasts, it’s necessary to uncover what these organs symbolize.
For example, Dr. N. Volkova writes that the breast is a ‘feeding block’ that nourishes the infant not only with milk but also with the mother’s life energy. The doctor believes that mastopathy arises as a result of excessive care by a mother for her adult children.
Some psychologists see the psychological cause as a lack of love and a feeling of protection in women.
Psychological Causes of Mastopathy
Louise Hay asserts that the breast is a symbol of maternal care, expressing the desire to nurture and care for everyone. In her opinion, breast diseases arise from an unwillingness to pamper oneself, and when other people’s problems are always a priority.
She names the causes of mastopathy as excessive maternal care, the desire to protect, and taking on too much responsibility.
Liz Bourbeau believes that the breast is associated with the expression of maternal instinct towards children, family, partner, or the world in general.
Problems with the breast can arise not only in women but also in men. In both cases, the psychologist believes, it indicates that the person is trying hard to feed and protect those towards whom he or she shows maternal instinct.
Liz Bourbeau explains that expressing maternal instinct means caring for another person as a mother cares for her child. At the same time, she writes, breast problems can also arise in those who force themselves to show care for someone, to be a good mother or father.
Another reason she sees is when a person tries hard for those they love and forgets their own needs and desires. At the subconscious level, they are angry with the people they care so zealously about because they have no time for themselves. A characteristic feature of such a person is that they care for others in a strict and demanding manner.
She claims that if a person has strict demands on themselves or their self-care borders on mania, breast diseases also appear.
She also notes that in right-handed people, the right breast is associated with the spouse, family, or other close people, and the left with the child (or inner child). For left-handed people, it’s the opposite.
Liz Bourbeau writes that a breast problem of purely aesthetic nature (without pathologies) indicates that a woman is too worried about how she looks as a mother.
Bodo Baginski and Sharamon Shalila, Reiki specialists, believe that problems with the breasts want to draw the patient’s attention to the fact that she is overdoing her desire to protect and show maternal care. But such behavior of the woman has become authoritative, with the pretense of always being right.
Dr. V. Sinelnikov also asserts that the breasts symbolize maternal care, nourishment, carrying, nursing. Hence, he writes, problems with this organ talk about denying oneself ‘nourishment,’ i.e., love, attention, care.
People with breast problems usually put themselves last in life and live by the motto: ‘First to a close one, then to oneself.’
According to V. Sinelnikov, cysts and indurations in the breast reflect an excess of care, excessive protection. People with such ailments care so much about someone that they literally suppress the person’s personality. But at the same time, they deny themselves care.
The doctor believes that mastopathy is caused by fear and excessive anxiety about the child, literally feverish care.
Another cause of mastopathy, writes Sinelnikov, can be simply a lack of elementary knowledge of how to care for one’s breasts.
According to Dr. O.G. Torsunov, such negative qualities in a woman’s character as impatience, excessive patience in ignorance (submissiveness), coarseness, spoiledness, joylessness, disgust, aversion, and hatred lead to problems with the breasts, including mastopathy.
Ways to Heal Mastopathy on a Nervous Basis
Thus, the above-mentioned psychological causes of mastopathy as a psychosomatic ailment clearly indicate the presence of a problem of measure in care (either its excess or lack).
Hence, the path to healing from this ailment involves the realization of the following thought: maternal (paternal) love can and should be expressed not only and not so much through constant care.
Parental love, besides elementary care, also implies understanding and respect, both for one’s own needs and for the child’s needs for independence, freedom, and other sensations necessary for the child’s normal mental development (the degree of their provision, of course, depends on the child’s age).
It is also natural and necessary for the mental state of parents to have the need to satisfy their inner requests, providing themselves with the opportunity and time for self-care.
It’s important to remember that only a person who has first helped themselves (rested physically and mentally and is in a joyful mood) can optimally (with love, not irritation) fulfill their duties regarding their close ones.
Thus, to heal from mastopathy on a nervous basis, it is necessary to:
- change the attitude towards oneself and others: all of us, people, need love, care, and the right to self-organize our lives;
- allow freedom and independence to oneself and others: freedom and independence are fundamental sensations that, to varying degrees, are necessary for a person (even a small one) to maintain mental balance;
- try not only to give but also to receive reciprocal care from loved ones.
Another hint for working on oneself is given by O.G. Torsunov. He names such qualities in a woman’s character that positively affect the health of the breasts: kindness, sensitivity, tolerance, tenderness, and joy. It remains only to develop them in oneself.
Be healthy and take care not only of others but also of yourself.
Lada
