Bladder Paralysis

The bladder is an organ almost no one talks about — as long as it works. It collects what the body no longer needs and lets it go. Inconspicuously, regularly, as a matter of course. But when the bladder is paralyzed, exactly this taken-for-grantedness ceases. The muscle that normally contracts to empty does not respond anymore. The body holds on to what should go. It cannot let go — not because it doesn't want to, but because the signal is no longer getting through.

Medically, a bladder paralysis is a neurological dysfunction — the nerve connection between the brain and the bladder muscle is disrupted. That must be medically evaluated, without question. But the psychosomatic perspective poses an additional question: What does it mean when the organ responsible for letting go and allowing flow refuses its duty? When the body literally freezes at the very point where it normally releases?