Psychology of Bruxism

The psychologist

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BRUXISM AND PSYCHOLOGY:

a key to getting to know you!

Anxiety, fear, anger, and resentment are all states of the mind that have the potential to generate uncontrolled muscular tension that, if sustained over time, can sometimes trigger severe consequences in the oral cavity, in the muscles of the face and neck, and in the joints of the mouth.

If your BruxApp test revealed a high psycho-emotional tension result, you may need a specialist who can help you better manage these tensions by working on their underlying causes.

All these emotions are linked to our daily lives, and we experience them normally in our hectic and stress-filled lives.

Like any emotion they have a dual meaning, one related to the mind, to thoughts, and the other physiologically related to the body.

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Indeed, emotions (from the Latin ex-movere, to move out) have had, ever since our origin as human beings, the task of helping us to survive by setting in motion a pattern of physical and hormonal reactions capable of prompting an immediate and adaptive response. Responses so innate and automatic that they become idioms: “grit your teeth”, “leave your mouth open”, or “bite the bullet”

When does this response become the cause of potential problems?

When a stress factor is too intense or too long in duration, it can create a mismatch between the psychophysical response and the stimulus that generated it. It is in this process that fear, anger, shame, resentment and what created them (from a trivial argument, for example, to family or work problems) can potentially generate uncontrolled and unconscious muscular tensions (Lowen called them “muscle armour”). Then, intensity and duration can trigger sometimes severe consequences in the body in general and in the neck, face and oral cavity in particular. Tension headaches, and pain in the muscles of the neck, face, jaws or mouth joints, can be so severe that they become chronic and disabling.

Body and mind are in constant exchange with each other, they are two sides of the same coin, the body through its pain helps to remind us of how the mind, our way of reasoning, can become rigid and “always too tense”, creating a vicious circle between (mental) discomfort and (physical) pain. Changing the way our mind responds, accepting and distancing ourselves from our emotions, understanding our relationships and the way we inhabit them can therefore have important, though not obvious, implications in the way we understand, experience and treat our aches and pains.

If your BruxApp test showed a high psycho-emotional tension result, you may need a specialist who can help you better manage these tensions by working on their causes. Psychological counselling not only makes deep sense of these muscular tensions and their consequences, but also aims to provide you with adaptable strategies to deal with and manage the psycho-emotional dynamics that generate and sustain these physical problems, preventing them from becoming chronic.

Take the test today!