You are wondering if your physical symptoms are connected to stress and strong emotions and if therapy can help.
Therapy for persistent physical symptoms in Alexandria, Virginia.
Examining the links
Exploring the relationships between physical symptoms like IBS, migraines, pain, or other physical problems and stress or strong emotions can be complicated.
Because we usually think of physical symptoms as primarily medical issues, we often look for explanations from medical systems.
When testing is ‘normal’ the message, implicitly or even explicitly, can seem to be ‘this is all in your head!’
But you know that isn’t the case. You’re living with a real, often debilitating, physical experience every day while trying to balance the rest of your life as well.
Why do my symptoms keep coming back?
It can be intensely frustrating when treatments help a little—or not at all—and the symptoms continue returning. Together we can explore whether your specific symptoms may be triggered or made worse by emotional patterns.
Sometimes these emotional links may be relatively clear - ‘I know when I get stressed my shoulder muscles tighten and it sets off my neck pain.’
For other people the connection may be more subtle - ‘When I get more depressed my stomach pain tends to get worse, but I don’t know how they would connect.’
Therapy is a space for us to slow down and explore if and where these links exist for you.
No assumptions - just curiosity, questions, and a shared project of understanding you and your experience more clearly.
Why doesn't my doctor have an answer?
Hearing "everything looks normal" can be incredibly confusing when your symptoms are anything but normal.
For stress related conditions, where emotions often play a role in exacerbating symptoms, medical tests don't always give us an explanation. Patients are often told "We didn’t find anything."
What this usually means is that the blood tests or imaging studies didn't identify an explanation.
This does not mean that nothing is happening or that no explanation exists. It highlights that not every condition is fully explained by the tests we currently have.
By using a psychological lens, therapy offers the chance to explore a different explanatory model and decide if that is relevant to your experiences.
Am I making this up?
No. Often patients receive messages that because their symptoms are connected to their emotions they are ‘made up’ or ‘making yourself sick.’
This is not the case.
When there is an emotional/physical connection present, it is unconscious. This makes it hard to see for ourselves and why therapy to explore these connections and clarify links can be useful.
People make sense. Symptoms make sense. You make sense. You deserve a space to make sense of your experiences.
Why does stress show up in my body?
Most of us have experienced our body responding to emotion—a shoulder tightness after a stressful day, migraines that reliably worsen after conflict or an upset stomach before something important. Therapy helps us become curious about how those same processes might be showing up repeatedly in your life.
Can therapy actually help physical symptoms?
Therapy may be helpful for people who experience physical symptoms linked to intense or overwhelming emotions.
Our first step is to get to know you, understand your patterns, and let you decide whether you see links between your emotions and your physical symptoms.
If you do, then we could work together to help you build your capacity to experience your emotions more safely and with less anxiety and consequently with fewer physical symptoms.
Learn more about what therapy is like here.
If this way of thinking about emotional patterns and physical symptoms connects with you, I'd be glad to talk with you about your particular experience and whether working together makes sense.
