Injuries often seem like accidents or misfortunes. It’s hard to believe someone would want to break or dislocate an arm, twist an ankle, or cut a finger. However, such a program might be subconsciously programmed. The psychosomatics of injury explain this.
Psychosomatic Causes of Injuries
People prone to injuries often have a particular personality type, with tendencies towards self-destruction and self-punishment. Other characteristics of such individuals include:
- Chronic guilt;
- Repressed aggression, anger;
- Lack of self-confidence;
- Desire to earn love and recognition from others;
- Dependence on others’ opinions and judgments;
- Constant emotional pain, old wounds;
- Inhibition of feelings and emotions;
- Sensitivity;
- Impulsiveness;
- Mental instability;
- Risky behavior (hitchhiking, parachuting, etc.).
Psychoanalyst Helen Flanders describes the personality prone to injury as:
- Decisive;
- Impulsive;
- Oriented towards immediate gratification and quick pleasure;
- Prone to momentary desires;
- Tendency to act emotionally based on the situation;
- Dislike of planning, bordering on the inability to predict the future;
- Attraction to adventure, excitement.
People prone to self-destruction do not consider danger; they never doubt or analyze their actions for safety. Instead, they constantly involve themselves in unpleasant situations, subconsciously wishing to harm themselves. Some even verbalize this: “When I die or something happens to me, you’ll all regret it.”
This personality trait forms in childhood, often due to an authoritarian family upbringing. Parents may not have provided adequate care, attention, and love, often punishing and scolding the child, forbidding them to express their opinions and desires.
An individual prone to injuries experiences an internal conflict, suffering from a contradictory combination of a need for love and aggression, distrust of the world. Initially, aggression and love are directed towards parents, later projected onto all people and the self.
Interesting! Body sides have different psychosomatic meanings. The left side represents feminine energy, while the right side represents masculine energy. For example, an injury to the left leg may indicate fear of the future due to difficulties in the relationship with the mother. Injuries to the right arm may reflect an inability to give or receive due to conflicts in the relationship with the father.
Injuries to Different Body Parts and Expert Opinions
Another psychological theory suggests injuries indicate self-hatred. This attitude arises from conditioning and self-conditioning, where a person believes they do not meet someone’s expectations, have failed to fulfill hopes, or are different from others. Consequently, the individual cannot accept their uniqueness.
Self-hatred and self-punishment are associated with:
- Low self-esteem;
- Inability to care for oneself;
- Self-dislike;
- Self-sacrifice;
- Suppressing one’s needs, interests, and desires;
- Inability to speak positively about oneself, focusing on flaws.
The person considers themselves stupid, unattractive, weak, unworthy, worthless, constantly blaming, criticizing, and scolding themselves.
To determine the cause more accurately, pay attention to the injured body part, using Louise Hay’s theory.
Psychosomatics of Hand Injuries
Hand injuries suggest an inability to accumulate and use life experience. Such a person fears the future, is not ready to take responsibility for their life, and is hindered by negative past memories, preventing them from living in the present.
What to do: Learn to accept any experience as a useful lesson and an opportunity for personal growth. The past cannot be changed; only accepted and its mistakes considered in building the future.
Leg Injuries
A bruise, fracture, cut, or other leg injury indicates fear of the future, a subconscious reluctance to move forward. The person fears the unknown, is stuck in their comfort zone.
Healing Affirmation: “My life is wonderful. I confidently move towards the future, knowing that only positive moments await me.” Remember, personal growth is impossible without leaving the comfort zone.
Important! A leg fracture may stem from dissatisfaction due to unattainable goals, an inability to forgive an offense, forced interaction with an unpleasant person. The fracture serves to temporarily distance oneself from undesirable places, people, or situations.
Finger Injuries
Finger injuries suggest taking life’s trivialities too seriously. Frequent burns, cuts, bruises, door slams, and other injuries hint it’s time to stop taking everything to heart, getting offended, and being angry over trivial matters.
Each finger has a psychosomatic meaning when injured:
- Thumb – overthinking leading to worry.
- Index finger – fear of losing moral and financial support, selfishness.
- Middle finger – anger towards a sexual partner, insecurity about attractiveness and sexuality.
- Ring finger – concerns related to personal life or friendships and family relationships.
- Little finger – feeling deceived by friends and relatives.
Injuries to fingers are attributed to subconscious fears and complexes.
Knee Injury
Cause: pride, stubbornness. A knee injury indicates an unwillingness to bend to others or circumstances. Such a person cannot compromise, understand others’ perspectives.
What to do: Develop compassion, a willingness to help and forgive. You don’t have to agree with or share others’ opinions. But you should understand and respect their interests. One person’s freedom ends where another’s begins.
Head Injury
The head directly reflects a person’s thoughts. A head injury indicates negative thoughts, obsessions, and self-attitude. Thus, any injury to the face or head is a physical reflection of thoughts of self-destruction. Headaches result from worrying, tormenting thoughts.
Causes of Fractures in Other Body Parts
A fracture is a form of protest. The person has long wanted to break, destroy, or change something but hesitates due to fear of punishment. The body acts on their behalf.
Possible reasons (benefits) for a fracture:
- Time for rest, reflection, life restructuring. Ideal for those juggling multiple jobs, hobbies, and personal life, a fracture acts as a safety valve to prevent burnout.
- Help in self-determination. A professional athlete’s injury with subsequent weight gain can permanently remove them from sports life, leading to new passions and areas of realization.
- A legitimate way to be helpless, receive care and attention. Common in workaholics, perfectionists, OCD sufferers, a fracture might occur when one is overwhelmed with orders, deadlines, or exhausted from previous work or family obligations, desiring rest but unable to consciously allow it.
- A way to maintain or end relationships, shorten the separation period. For instance, a wife might “accidentally” break her leg before her husband’s business trip to attract his attention. Or conversely, be hospitalized to temporarily leave home.
Important! To identify the exact cause, one must know not only the psychosomatics of the body but also the specific life characteristics of the individual, their temperament, character, and psychological traits.
The Child Factor
As previously discussed, the tendency towards self-destruction forms in childhood, influenced not just by upbringing. Other traumatic factors for children’s psyche include:
- Parents’ divorce;
- Conflicts and quarrels between parents;
- Parents’ career-focused lifestyle;
- Emotional coldness and indifference, permissive parenting style.
A predisposition to self-destruction arises when a child lacks attention and love. Illnesses, fractures, dislocations – are ways to attract attention or unite parents.
Healing Paths and Injury Prevention
If you constantly find yourself in unpleasant situations, and each new injury is more dangerous than the last, consider the presence of psychosomatic factors. Identifying the cause can be challenging as it resides at the subconscious level. Thus, consulting a psychologist is recommended. They can establish patterns between injuries and life events at the first meeting, identifying the roots of such reactions. Subsequently, the psychotherapist will develop an individual plan to correct thinking.
Working with the life script is essential. Here, we refer to the “loser” script (Bern’s theory). Life script is a program of beliefs passed down from parents. Healing involves freeing oneself from parental prohibitions, acting independently or in defiance. Regaining awareness and control over life is crucial.
Psychotherapy stages:
- Realizing the client’s direct involvement in injuries: not “I got a fracture,” but “I broke my arm.” Understanding that one controls their successes and failures.
- Jointly examining the context of the accident – its content, form, meaning. Understanding why this happened now.
- Searching for an unconscious deep conflict. Discuss and visualize the situation in the “here and now.” Analyze events, identify links between negative factors and reactions. Reflect on who or what you’ve long wanted to treat as you did your injured leg. Perhaps you want to end old relationships, but instead, you’ve torn ligaments in your arm?
Important! Changing the life script independently is challenging. Seeking a psychoanalyst’s help is advisable.
Adult Healing and Prevention
Ask yourself several questions to aid healing and prevent injuries. They will help you understand yourself and identify potential causes of injuries or vulnerable life areas.
- What actions or words, committed shortly before the fracture (or other injury), made you feel ashamed before yourself or others?
- Which current life circumstances seem least comfortable?
- What are you doing to normalize your situation and state?
- Do you avoid making independent decisions?
- What do your current relationships with your spouse/partner/lover mean to you?
- Are you trying to revive or save dead relationships?
- Which obligations irritate you the most?
- Are you truly responsible for these duties, or should someone else be?
- Who or what prevents you from improving the situation?
Answer honestly. There’s nothing to hide from yourself.
Child Assistance
To help children and prevent childhood injuries, follow these recommendations:
- Allow the child to express accumulated emotions.
- Teach the child to articulate emotions and feelings. Encourage them to express dissatisfaction, support and thank them for honesty. Do not punish or scold.
- Accept the child as they are. Don’t respond to aggression with aggression, don’t leave the child alone with their emotions.
- Always consider the child’s opinion, give them the right to choose.
Negative emotions can be redirected positively. They possess immense power. It’s important to verbalize feelings, identify their source, and learn techniques to switch and redistribute emotions. Creative activities and sports can help.
