Mental causes of dizziness

Dizziness can have psychological causes

Constant dizziness, in the morning in the evening or the whole day: For those affected this condition is almost unbearable. The causes of permanent dizziness can be very different. Often there are physical complaints such as neck tension. But just as often mental stress or anxiety can be the reason for dizziness. Doctors of the dizziness ambulance of the Bürgerhospital Stuttgart are currently investigating the reasons for vertigo attacks. They found that emotional problems are a common cause of dizziness.

Dizziness is almost a common disease: „Dizziness is widespread and is about as common as headache in Germany“, reports Prof. Annegret Eckhardt-Henn, Medical Director of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the Bürgerhospital Stuttgart. About 12 percent of the German population suffer from dizziness and balance disorders at least once in their lives. „Of these, about 30 percent of all vertigo forms are attributable to mental causes.“, says Eckhardt-Henn.

Fear as a trigger for dizziness
Dizziness can occur in many mental disorders, such as depression, pyschosis, and especially anxiety disorders. Vertigo and other specific phobias, agoraphobia with or without panic attacks, are often associated with dizziness, which is usually described as diffuse and unsystematic dizziness. It often takes a long time for a psychogenic cause to be accepted by the person concerned. After all organic causes have been excluded, often with the medical diagnosis of „phobic swings“ pronounced the recommendation for psychotherapy.

Dizziness "without findings"
Many sufferers go to the doctor over and over again, but many times, no definite diagnosis can be made. They are moving from suspicion to suspicion. Sometimes the patients are told that it could be due to cervical blockages or there are problems in the cardiovascular system. Others, in turn, are told they have suffered from circulatory problems. Many patients also simply receive the diagnosis „without findings“. It takes several years for those affected to find out the reasons for the complaints. „Most patients with somatoform dizziness run from suspicion to suspicion, make one unnecessary therapy after another, and swallow many unnecessary medications“, says Dr. Mark Obermann, Head of the Vertigo Center in Essen. For many people, then a whole circle of anxiety begins, because most are afraid that a serious illness is the cause. „The fear of having something really bad is growing inexorably.“ In many patients, the dizziness is so pronounced that they scarcely leave the house out of fear. „At the beginning of the problem are phobias, depressive or dissociative disorders“, explains Eckhardt-Henn.

It becomes clear that fears carry a mental dizziness. Concerned patients hardly dare to go to public places, to events like cinema or theater or department stores. „It can also be the fear of the escalator or the cinema visit, which triggers the dizziness.“ Anxiety patients sweat at such moments and their hands start to shake. In some patients real dizziness attacks start in such situations: „The dizziness is then experienced as the superficial problem, not the fear behind it.“

Prof. Michael Strupp, Head of the Dizzying Unit at the Klinikum Großhadern in Munich already recognizes dizziness patients in their sometimes very similar traits: „They are very dutiful people, who are very keen to have a grip on themselves.“ With the negative experiences of the first vertigo, the patients are sensitized to the inside. Those affected have an intense sense of self in their sense of balance.

No human being is "free from dizziness"
Truly a dizziness is not human. No one person can be one hundred percent completely straight and without movement. However, anxious patients pay close attention to how their bodies slide back and forth. Every movement is recorded very accurately and interpreted as dizziness. This creates a spiral of anxiety that intensifies the vertigo and reproduces it again and again. However, dizziness can be relieved when those concerned are distracted and do not focus too much on their own balance. For example, if sufferers are told in the form of psychotherapy that such a spiral exists, this is the first step in tackling the dizziness. Step by step it becomes possible to desensitize the patients and to provide them with methods to deal with the mental dizziness. (sb, 07.10.2010)