Science finds weird connection between sexual abuse and mysterious physical illness

One in six women experience sexual assault once in their lifetime as per global records.

Likewise, a persistent average of 88 rape cases are reported in India every day, said the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

While the severe emotional and psychological load of the traumatic experience is often highlighted, there is more to the picture— people with a history of sexual abuse are more likely to develop functional somatic disorders.

The affected person may report persistent bodily symptoms to their treating physician but in return won’t get diagnosed with a relevant disorder. It can include confusing gastrointestinal signs, chronic pain and other conditions with no obvious cause on the test reports.

As of now, the medical doctors recognise functional somatic disorders as conditions that aren’t fully physical nor fully mental but mostly lie somewhere in between.

A study used data from a large Danish study which followed people with functional somatic disorders for years and also those who were likely to have it in the future.

They found that women with a history of sexual violence were 69 percent more likely to either have these conditions or develop it in the future.

Functional somatic disorders

As per an article in the journal Frontiers, functional somatic disorders can often show up as persistent, distressing physical symptoms with no clinical or psychiatric explanations.

Over years it has been found that unresolved emotions like grief, rage, fear, guilt or emotional pain can intensify or generate physical symptoms or pain.

Multiple names have been used for these mysterious conditions for years— hysteria, psychogenic disorders, psychosomatic disorders and many others. Now, most of these names stand clinically irrelevant.

Scientists are now calling a brain-gut axis connection to be the cause behind these mysterious conditions.

As per multiple studies, when emotions from adverse childhood experiences and past trauma remain unprocessed for years, they begin to alter the neural circuits and lead to unexplainable somatic symptoms in the person.

Neuroscientific evidence even steps ahead in saying that underlying negative emotions can amplify the perception of pain unpleasantness.

For instance, many people with anxiety disorders can often complain about a sudden chest pain. They may be asked to go for an ECG only to find there was no physical cause. 

Fibromyalgia and IBS

Among the common functional somatic disorders are - fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Fibromyalgia is a mysterious illness, affecting more women than men. It causes longstanding muscle pain, joint pain and fatigue without any visible physical cause that could emerge in X-rays or CT scans.

As per The Conversation, no inflammation or structural abnormality is noted by the doctors.

In the same way, IBS also tends to cause confusing symptoms in people who keep looking for answers for months or even years.

The condition affects the gastrointestinal system in both men and women, with its cause being unknown.

Some studies assume the condition affects how food moves through the digestive tract or how the intestinal muscles may contract or relax.

It is accompanied by episodes of diarrhea and constipation, feeling of gastric bloating and a sensation of bowel fullness even after defecation.

As per experts, these mysterious symptoms associated with both the conditions are closely associated with a prolonged stress response. 

The study also assumed that greater the intensity of sexual abuse in a person, greater the probability of them having long term physical health problems.