How do you understand psychosomatic illness?

Psychosomatic illness is broadly misunderstood. When a doctor tells a patient that nothing is physically wrong – their tests come out “clean” – some people are actually disappointed by the lack of clear answers and treatment. Patients often feel misunderstood, like their condition is being minimized or there’s an implication that it’s ‘all in their head’.

The lack of an underlying disease process doesn't mean that nothing is physically wrong. It means that there's no disease that can be named that is causing the problem. There still may be a physical problem, but it is one that the medical system doesn't have an obvious answer to.

The vast majority of doctor’s visits are caused by stress-related illness. Most chronic diseases have a significant component that is caused by our inability to metabolize the stress in our lives. Our lives have become stressful to the point that our bodies are breaking down. We are under-resourced relative to the load that we're carrying, and, depending on our susceptibilities and our health history, we will respond to that overload in a variety of ways, some of which may be physical.

If your doctor says he or she can't find the cause for what’s ailing you, it's not a reason to think there isn’t a way forward. It may help to examine where you have been overloaded and what is currently indigestible in your life. It happens to all of us. How can you give yourself more support so that your body and mind can come to better balance?

There likely isn’t a quick fix because once many systems have fallen out of balance for an extended time, it’s going to take time to come back to balance. The key is learning how to heal. How confident are you in your ability to heal? Ready to learn?