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Originally Posted by yellow_fleurs
Thanks Fern and the others who shared their stories here. That must have been a very difficult experience for you, but I am glad that you and your therapist are working together to figure it out. I agree that the mind and body are connected and keeping the mind healthy will help keep the body healthy and visa versa. I think for me it's a bit of both interacting. I definitely had a medical issue that started off a lot of symptoms for me, but I think all the anxiety I experience has not really helped my body to recover, and depression probably worsens my pain. I also appreciate that you mentioned some causes are outside of our control since I have had my symptoms written off as psychosomatic when there are other things going on which makes me feel like my story is not believed when I explain it and it can be invalidating. However, I am trying to recognize that I might be able to improve some of my symptoms by improving my mental health and kind of approach my health from all angles in a holistic sense.
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I think you are making a wise call. We are integrated beings and all of our systems work together as one. Medically we treat them as though they are all separate, and maybe there is some sense to that, but in my mind there also needs to be something synthesizing everything back together. It reminds me of my time managing teams. Every expert had a specialized job and focused on that work. I was the one who brought the pieces together and wove them into a cohesive unit of work. I think our mind, body, spirit systems are like that. We can focus on specific areas, but we also need to remember the whole. When one area falls apart the others are affected. When one area is healed, the others benefit.
For example, I can see your case going both ways. The anxiety and depression cause physical pain and the physical pain makes you feel depressed and anxious. The mental and emotional root causes need to be addressed and so do the physical symptoms.
It can perhaps feel overwhelming to think about needing to address all of it, but I feel like it is easier if you just break it down into small steps and remember each one serves the whole. Trauma work, individual and group therapy, exercise, eating well, playing, feeding your spirit, etc. It all adds up to better overall health. It also feels really good when you get going in a good direction on all three fronts.