“I think chronic stress is beginning to affect my health. Who can help me change the way I’m living?”
Our psychological and physical systems are not separate, and prolonged stress can affect the body and nervous system.
That does not mean physical symptoms are “all in your head” or should automatically be assumed to have a psychological cause.
Physical symptoms may require appropriate medical assessment and treatment. Therapy is not a substitute for medical care.
At the same time, our bodies, our soma, can sometimes express the load we are carrying.
People may experience tension, disturbed sleep, fatigue, digestive changes, headaches or other physical symptoms alongside periods of significant stress or nervous system activation.
In my own clinical experience I have also seen people notice an easing of some physical symptoms as they process difficult experiences, work with their nervous systems and change some of the ways they are responding to stress.
You may be thinking things such as:
“My body feels permanently stressed and I know the way I’m living may be contributing.”
“I feel like my body is telling me that I cannot continue at this pace.”
My work may be relevant to people experiencing nervous-system dysregulation, chronic stress and burnout, difficulty switching off, loss of vitality, and physical symptoms or health concerns where the person or their medical professionals believe chronic stress may be one contributing factor.
What do you mean by working with the nervous system or the body?
Our bodies often respond before our conscious minds have made sense of what is happening.
You may know rationally that you are safe and still feel activated.
You may understand that a current situation is not the same as something from your past and still experience a powerful physical or emotional response.
Sometimes this is the body’s fight, flight or freeze response, still reacting as though a danger from the past were present.
I pay attention to those responses as part of the work.
That may mean noticing changes in tension, breathing, activation, shutdown, emotion or bodily sensation.
The body can give us information that cognition alone sometimes cannot.
What kind of therapist works with the body as well as psychology?
We talk in therapy. Of course we do.
But while we are talking, I am also paying attention to the rest of the system.
What is happening in your body?
What is your nervous system doing?
Where does activation appear?
Where do you shut down?
If you are coming specifically to learn TRE®, for example, we may need only a number of sessions before you feel confident using it independently.
I therefore remain curious about the body as part of the whole system while appropriate medical care continues where necessary.
Testimonials
"Just wanted to write to tell you that I've continued doing TRE by myself. It's working wonders for me...I really feel my body's reaction to my usual phobia triggers have diminished in a big way. It's such a strange feeling. I just inexplicably feel a hundred times less scared. Thank you so much for teaching me about it!"