Psychological Reasons for Being Allergic to Cats

The description of an allergy according to MedicineNet is the body's "misguided reaction to foreign substances by the immune system" as the substances known as pathogens are usually harmless but treated as if it were a virus. Allergy symptoms can be mild to severe and are very real to the sufferer. The psychological factors have also been known to stimulate responses from the body, including affecting the immune system.

Psychoneuroimmunology

• The mind-brain connection to the immune system has been evaluated in more than 300 studies according to Suzanne C. Segerstrom and Gregory E. Miller. In their 2004 article, "Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry," they note that "psychological challenges are capable of modifying various features of the immune response." "See Reference 2, section after abstract paragraph 2." Some studies explored whether "immune responses varied according to their reports of perceived stress, intrusive thoughts, or both." "See Reference 2, Conceptualizing Stress, Paragraph 3." A perceived stress would include the presence of a cat or knowing that a cat had been in the area. Stress has been found to enter the body to affect immune responses through "sympathetic fibers that descend from the brain" into the bone marrow, thymus, spleen, lymph nodes, and lymphoid tissues

  "See Reference 2, Pathways Between Stress and the Immune System, Paragraph 1."

Linked Behaviors

• In linking stress with the immune system, Segerstrom and Miller add that "people's efforts to manage the demands of stressful experience sometimes lead them to engage in behaviors" that compromise the immune system "See Reference 2, Pathways Between Stress and the Immune System, end of Paragraphy 1." For the individual who has stress from thinking about cat allergies, they might rub their nose or touch their eyes with dirty hands, resulting in the symptomatic itchy or runny eyes and nose. The physical response is misinterpreted as being allergic to cats.

Psychosomatic Reaction

• Learned behaviors are the basis of psychosomatic reactions. A famous incident cited by AllergoStop and Robert Dilts, among others, describes Dr. J. MacKenzie's 1880s treatment of a patient with severe rose allergies. One day, the woman arrived in his office after seeing an artificial rose and began having severe allergic reactions as if the rose had been real. AllergoStop describes this as similar to the "classical conditioning scenarios" that Pavlov used to stimulate responses in dogs. In the individual with cat allergies, it is possible to experience the same reactions on seeing or believing that a cat is nearby.

Immune System Retraining

• Robert Dilts of NLP University is one of the recognized "developers, trainers and practitioners" of Neuro-Lingustic Programming (NLP) and author of 20 books on the subject as of 2010. According to Dilts's website, NLP is a "pragmatic school of thought" that engages in the understanding of the "mental and cognitive processes behind behavior" to create positive mind-body modifications. In the NLP system, an individual who is allergic to cats can undergo a "reeducation process" of the immune system to stop allergic reactions from stressors and pathogens. TheSkeptic'sDictionary describes NLP as controversial, describing the terminology used as so being so vague that it can mean anything to anybody. It further notes that the theory credits the unconscious mind with having greater control than the conscious mind and is based heavily on hypnotherapy and methods used in Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams".

Control Issues

• "Sometimes an allergy is the only excuse people allow themselves to take a rest," according to Dilts. He further notes that, in some cases, a shared allergy, such as to cats, allows an individual to maintain an emotional connection to a parent or other important person who has or had the same allergy. On another level, GrowingAware notes that "power and control are two of the most significant issues in any relationship." When the relationship is not going well, power and control issues become a problem." In a relationship in which one individual desires a cat, the other partner may experience psychosomatic reactions of an allergy to cats to enjoy a greater sense of control in the relationship.