Have you ever wondered if your painful silences mask some physical disorder? When you’ve had a bad time, or have had an upset, have you subsequently developed a cold or had a relapse of your weakest point? In these cases, your emotions may be taking a toll on you.
But do we know how to detect those intimate cries and their relationship with our emotions? Or, on the contrary, do we not think about it and flee forward, denying the pain, and making the suffering appear?
The relationship between the physical and the psychological
Think for a moment about the following example:
Álex was a boy who liked to fish and often went out with his best friend to the nearest river they had. One day, back home, Alex got a thorn in his foot. From that moment on, Álex walked trying not to plant his foot on the ground, since the spine caused him immense and continuous pain so that it prevented him from walking well… Thus the days went by and, while his friends of the best in the park going up and down the slide, Álex regretted not being able to do it as they had done until then. But Álex was afraid to pull the thorn out of him because of the pain it would cause him. His friends, seeing Álex’s suffering, plotted to take him in their arms, and despite attempts against Álex, they finally managed to remove the thorn from his foot. At that moment there was silence and great relief came over Alex. (J. Barrios).
This is a clear example of how Many times, trying to avoid pain, we incur constant suffering that prevents us from living happily. It is almost always preferable to face pain, no matter how intense and heartbreaking it may be, to remove the thorn that pins suffering in our existence.
Let us remember that almost always (at least in 90% of cases, as Stephen Covey would tell us) we are responsible for the suffering we allow in our lives. The result after my years of experience as a coach psychologist has led me to several conclusions about this.
Physical problems after emotional problems
Our nature is wise and tells us what our heart does not confess, either because of not knowing how to express or because of not wanting to face the circumstance. This is how we somatize and frequently end up getting sick. In that sense, the flow of words, as Daniel Goleman would say in his book Emotional Intelligence, will relieve the heavy heart.
Our internal dialogue is defined by the flow of thought from our conscious. Thought generates an emotion, therefore before the emotion there has been a thought, often derived from thought patterns automated by learning and lived experiences.
Emotions and the amygdala connect our thoughts to our body, so any thought generates a type of emotion and, consequently, behavior and the functioning of our organs: body parts contract, stomach acid secretion increases. , heart rate, breathing, we produce spasms in the intestine, we sweat, we blush, we cry, …
If thoughts and emotions are continually “negative” (they become maladaptive if they persist over time) our organs, our muscles, our viscera will function in a forced way adapting to a situation of permanent stress that ends up making them sick.
For example, if I think I am being controlled or I feel persecuted and I feel afraid, my heart races, I breathe faster (hyperventilate), my hands sweat, my mouth becomes dry, my stomach hurts, or my muscles contract. of the body. If, on the other hand, I think that life is going well for me in general, that it smiles at me, my muscles relax, I feel well-being, my tension drops, my body becomes oxygenated and my breathing becomes deeper.
In order to improve our physical and mental health our objective should be to determine the relationship between the symptom that our body manifests and our hidden emotion and give it expression Let’s think that once we identify our problem, we can solve 50% of it. When we identify it we are in a position to control it.
Definitely, it is the language of the symptom and, favoring the environment that Business Psychoconsulting offers you, with cognitive-behavioral therapy as well as brief strategy, we help you identify and express it. When we don’t do it, we run the risk of getting sick. So be careful with the repressed feelings that we feel we haven’t received permission to express! We will somatize to release the emotion.
What is done in therapy?
From the cognitive-behavioral current we try to describe the symptoms we suffer; for example, palpitations, lump in the throat, shortness of breath, dizziness, stomach pain, sleep problems, knee pain… especially symptoms that affect or disable us in some way in our daily lives. We could make a list with the patient in order of intensity, and previously identify the thought that occurred immediately before the symptom.
In that sense It is advisable to keep a record of each of the symptoms, from the moment they have arisen, and to be able to reach a positive reformulation of the same thought. It should be noted that the same thought can cause different symptoms with different intensities depending on the person. To assess the intensity of the symptoms we will use the Beck tests and develop a personalized symptom scale, in order of intensity, which will be quantified during the intersessions.
In many cases they will be thoughts that cause fear, anxiety, fear of fear, and that will be when, in addition to working with cognitive-behavioral techniques, we will work with those of brief strategic therapy, strategies that will have to do with “adding fuel to the fire” ( G.Nardone).
Commented by the way, we also know from the bibliography of Dethlefsen and Dahlke (2003), in their book Illness as a path, as well as through the work of Adriana Schnake, that the parts of our body that get sick often do so because we do not accept some of their characteristics, and they have a symbolism and a correlation with the organs of the body. Healing will take place when both parts are reconciled, and our mind accepts the characteristics of the diseased organ. Despite this, to the general meaning of each symptom, we must combine several rules for its interpretation.
Observed the symptoms of the body
Through cognitive-behavioral therapy, it is very important to consider the moment in which the symptom occurs. Because the emotional memory is short-term, an exhaustive record of both the symptom and the thought at the same time they occur is recommended:
On the other hand, all the symptoms force us to change our behavior, which also provides us with information, especially when we are incapacitated in our daily lives. For example, continuous headaches will prevent me from being able to carry out my work correctly, or my energy will decrease if I don’t eat well, or sleep well… Given this, we can also ask ourselves: What is this symptom preventing me from doing? What is this symptom forcing me to do?
This is how we, mental health professionals, help the client/patient become aware of what is limiting and hindering their growth and offer coping techniques to resolve conflict and suffering. Ultimately, the goal will be to go learning to be happy
