Have you ever noticed that your body seems to react when life becomes overwhelming?

Perhaps your sleep changes, your muscles tighten, your skin flares, your stomach becomes unsettled or you feel constantly exhausted. You may have visited doctors, tried treatments and still wondered why your symptoms seem worse during periods of stress, anxiety, grief or emotional pressure.

This does not mean that your symptoms are imaginary. Physical symptoms are real and deserve proper medical assessment. It does mean that the body and mind are closely connected, and emotional experiences can influence how we feel physically and how our bodies respond to illness.

In my academic work on psychosomatic medicine, I explored what happens when we look beyond the symptom itself and ask what a person may be experiencing emotionally, psychologically and relationally. The word “psychosomatic” is often used dismissively, as though an illness is “all in someone’s head”. I take a different view. A mind-body perspective recognises that a person is more than a diagnosis or a collection of symptoms.

When stress becomes part of the body

Ongoing stress places demands on the nervous system. When we have been coping with pressure, trauma, anxiety, anger or grief for a long time, the body may remain in a state of heightened alertness. This can affect sleep, energy, concentration, mood, pain and general wellbeing.

For some people, emotional distress may also coincide with changes in existing physical conditions. People with skin conditions, for example, commonly report that stress can trigger or worsen flare-ups. This is not because the condition is “just psychological”. Rather, the skin, immune system and nervous system interact in complex ways.

Sometimes the body communicates what has been difficult to put into words. A person may be carrying fear, sadness, anger, shame or exhaustion without having a safe place to express or understand it. Over time, this can leave them feeling disconnected from themselves and unsure what their body is trying to tell them.

Your symptoms are not your fault

A mind-body approach should never be used to blame people for being unwell. You did not cause your illness by failing to think positively, and counselling is not a substitute for appropriate medical care.

Counselling can, however, provide a space to explore the emotional and psychological dimensions of living with symptoms or illness. This may include:

• the fear and uncertainty associated with a diagnosis;
• grief for changes in your body, identity or way of life;
• anger about not being believed or understood;
• anxiety about flare-ups, pain or the future;
• the impact of illness on relationships, work and independence;
• the exhaustion of constantly managing symptoms; and
• the loss of a sense of who you were before things became difficult.

Understanding these experiences can help you respond to yourself with greater compassion rather than frustration or self-criticism.

A space to understand the whole person

In counselling, we can gently explore the relationship between what is happening in your life, what you are feeling and how you are experiencing your body. This does not involve assuming that every symptom has a hidden emotional cause. Instead, it involves listening carefully to your experience and making space for the whole person—not only the problem that brought you to treatment.

My approach is warm, collaborative and trauma-informed. I work with adults experiencing anxiety, depression, stress, burnout, grief, trauma, relationship difficulties, identity concerns and major life transitions. I also support people living with chronic health concerns or feeling emotionally overwhelmed by the demands of ongoing illness.

You do not need to have a clear explanation for what you are feeling before you seek counselling. You may simply know that you are tired of coping alone, that your life has become smaller or that you no longer feel like yourself.

If this article resonates with your experience, counselling may offer a place to slow down, feel heard and begin to understand what you have been carrying. You can book a session with me through Mentalzon to discuss whether we might be a good fit.

This article is based on my publication, “The Suffering of the Soul in Medicine: Psychosomatic Medicine, Depression, Anxiety, Anger and the Skin”, published in the Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, 24(1), 2018, pp. 8–12. Counselling does not replace medical assessment or treatment.

Photo Credit: Crawford, John. About - John Crawford – Lily and the Horse