How can thought work such changes? There is pathway between the hypothalamus, the brain segment that controls primitive reaction to anger, fear, hunger and sex, and the pituitary gland. This mysterious gland, a lump the size of a sugar cube, located at the base of the brain, had long been known to secrete a growth hormone. But recent research has uncovered a number of other hormones it produces. The front lobe alone was found to create chemical that trigger the making of sex hormones and govern the thyroid, which in turn controls the body’s metabolism. It yields yet another chemical that reg-ulates adrenal secretion.
The middle and back lobes of the pituitary affect the kidneys, contractions of the uterus, and blood pressure. We have just opened the door, says one researcher, and have had only a superficial look at this gland. But we now know one way in which emotion can be translated into bodily changes.
With such clues to very real mechanisms, many doctors have begun to look for signs of emotional stress in patients as a matter of routine. Written tests have been designed to seek out the factors most commonly found among people whose ailments have been proved to be caused by emotion.
one such patient was jean becker , whose low back pain had grown steadily wores for a year , with no apparent cause. the symptoms cannot be seen on x ray. when he had scored it , he asked , have you been depressed iately?.
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