

Ask HN: Can the brain create something it doesn't have? - shire

How powerful is fear? If you fear something so much can the brain actually create it?<p>Like fear of being blind or fear of having a mental disorder is that fear enough to actually make the brain mimic symptoms of it?
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DanBC
You might want to web-search for "somatoform".

These are pretty common and can cause considerable distress to people. Common
forms include health-anxiety ("I'm having a heart attack"; "I have cancer").
Less common forms include blindness or paralysis.

A complicating factor is that people reject the treatment because they feel
they are being ignored or dismissed as "making it up" or "faking it".

It can be tricky for clinicians to work with someone with a somatic symptom
disorder. How do you respond to someone who claims to be blind, but who does
stuff that requires sight?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_symptom_disorder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_symptom_disorder)

> A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform
> disorder,[1][2][3] is a mental disorder characterized by physical symptoms
> that suggest physical illness or injury – symptoms that cannot be explained
> fully by a general medical condition or by the direct effect of a substance,
> and are not attributable to another mental disorder (e.g., panic disorder).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_disorder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_disorder)

> A conversion disorder causes patients to suffer from neurological symptoms,
> such as numbness, blindness, paralysis, or fits without a definable organic
> cause. It is thought that symptoms arise in response to stressful situations
> affecting a patient's mental health. Conversion disorder is considered a
> psychiatric disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
> Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5).[1]

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shire
So if you have a thought of having a panic attack even though no health
problems would cause just the mere fact of fearing a panic attack can cause
one?

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mobiplayer
You might be describing an anxiety attack.

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saltvedt
Yes, check out the Nocebo effect[0] (Placebos evil twin) and related phenomena
like Voodoo death.[1]

From Wikipedia: "Voodoo death, a term coined by Walter Cannon in 1942 also
known as psychogenic death or psychosomatic death, is the phenomenon of sudden
death as brought about by a strong emotional shock, such as fear."

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_death)

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danieltillett
Yes, but it is unlikely.

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shire
Explain?

~~~
danieltillett
DanBC basically answered your question. The thing to keep in mind is this is
pretty rare.

