I think that most people now a days would agree with this statement. Many people are talking about the connection between the body and the mind and there is wide recognition that our physical health is impacted by our emotional health.
The thing that continues to surprise me though, is that in light of this knowledge, we continue to invest ourselves in a medical system that treats our mind and body as separate entities and we perpetuate this approach whenever we use this system because we have been programmed to think like this from childhood by almost everyone in our lives and it is paid for with our tax dollars. For example, when we have digestive issues we see the gastroenterologist. When we have hormonal issues we see an endocrinologist. When we have joint pain we see a rheumatologist.
Although this is understandable to one extent (as our body's are so complex that a doctor would have to spend their entire life to understand each system in it's complexity), this approach is extremely limited, not at all holistic, and unfortunately does not get good results (I mean true healing rather than symptom management). Instead, the separation of our body's into systems often results in missed symptoms, misunderstood disease processes, chronic and complicated pharmaceutical use and more!
Our mind and body are connected. When we separate our body's into systems we loose sight of the whole and this approach can be extremely harmful because it does not recognize the harmful experiences or problems in other systems. We must start looking at our body's holistically - mind, body and spirit!
Even when we address the impact of our emotional and mental health on our life and physical health we often approach it through therapy and counselling. Although counselling is extremely beneficial and yes, dealing with the experiences, traumas or stresses in our life can positively benefit our physical health and well-being, this approach too is often limited to a systems only perspective and people are still left with physical problems even in spite of the fact that they have dealt with the emotions or traumas behind them.
So, is it even possible to address the mind body connection holistically?
Absolutely!
The reality is that most disease and physical health problems stem from emotional and mental upset (unless it is from a physical injury, chronic poor lifestyle and diet choices.) We need to get past the idea that physical symptoms are only 'just' physical and that drugs or diet or lifestyle changes are the only solutions.
Did you know that your physical symptoms or chronic disease can be an expression of emotional or mental upsets caused by stress, trauma or even emotional overwhelm even if it occurred more than 20 years ago?!
We need to get past the idea that physical symptoms are only physical. Physical symptoms can be an expression of emotional or mental disturbances caused by stress, trauma or even emotional overwhelm. Why? Because our body's were created as one system where our body, mind and emotions function together and impact each other.
When we get overwhelmed, stressed or traumatized, our body has this incredible ability to keep functioning...but there is often a 'fallout' which is often misunderstood and diagnosed as this or that disease, syndrome or as physical symptoms.
This 'fallout' can be expressed in the body through physical symptoms such as asthma, joint & muscle pain, digestive disturbances such as IBS, autoimmune disease, skin conditions and pretty much all other physical symptoms in addition to mental/emotional symptoms such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, OCD, etc.
You might be asking yourself how it is possible for physical diseases and symptoms to be caused by emotional or mental trauma/stress or why our nutrition and lifestyle choices don't have more of an impact on our physical health than addressing our emotions and mental health?
Even good nutrition and lifestyle choices often aren't enough to combat your body's pattern or tendency to express your emotional/mental distress as physical symptoms. This is why when you stop 'eating well' or experience more stress your symptoms return or worsen.
The good news is that it is possible to break these physical symptom patterns. It is possible to overcome chronic disease.
How? By addressing your health from a holistic standpoint - for example, looking at your emotional and mental health when your symptoms first started can be very helpful in addressing your current physical/emotional and mental symptoms.
This is often described as finding the 'root cause.' By understanding that the symptoms you experience can be caused by an emotional/mental stressor or trauma, you can start addressing your health on a more holistic level and truly start to get healing.
Addressing your health from a holistic perspective means taking the time to get to know you, your personality and your response to stress as well as your physical symptoms. This is what I do!
Where do you go from here?
I offer mind body wellness therapy sessions that includes natural treatments including supplementation & nutritional suggestions and homeopathic medicines.
Book a FREE 15 minute discovery session today!
