‘Sick behaviour‘ or conservation-withdrawal is a natural biological process in which inertia and disengagement are used to survive under circumstances where flight or fight is impossible.
In animals it presents as general passivity, with little movement and poor appetite. In infants there is weight loss in spite of normal feeding, less crying and excessive sleeping. In adults we see lack of motivation, weakness, tiredness, fatigue, low muscle tone, a disheartened mood, a feeling of emptiness and a meditative silence. The biological aim is to increase the potential for survival in the face of insurmountable odds. This prevents costly expenditure of threatened inner resources. The withdrawal is often combined with symptoms of physical illness such as pain or fever. Bio-dynamically we include the fundamental re-adjustment of principles and ideals towards greater concern for the body and its identity as part of conservation withdrawal. If it persists for long periods, conservation withdrawal is often seen as a ‘hypochondriac‘ response by clinicians because they experience the sufferers as noncompliant and inclined to distort communication, often leading to misunderstanding or manipulation.
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