Stress and Chronic Illness
More and more, research is showing that life-long stress, trauma(which is any experience the body registers as overwhelming or precipitous), adverse life experiences, and repressed emotions are the foundation for many medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, Crohn’s, inflammatory conditions, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, neurological disorders, obesity, addiction, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body’s. These conditions are being referred to as stress-related diseases.
“Stress...is a measurable set of objective physiological events in the body, involving the brain, the hormonal apparatus, the immune system and many other organs.”
In 2014, the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES) clearly linked childhood trauma, and other “adverse childhood events,” which could include abuse, neglect, and other traumas, to illness, disability, social problems, and shortened life span. People who have experienced four or more “events” as children are twice as likely to develop heart disease, depression, and autoimmune diseases.
Trauma, what the body experiences as overwhelming or precipitous, can mean different things to different people. What is traumatic for one is not for another. What is certain, however, is that all of us have experienced varying degrees of trauma, which our body responds to by being stressed. Stress, which manifests as tension in the body, can disrupt immune, metabolic, vascular, and endocrine systems, which can lead to chronic conditions.
Right now, we’re all experiencing the fear and shock of the pandemic; those who have contracted Covid, and those who haven’t. Some of those who have experienced Covid have not fully recovered, and are now navigating life with new chronic health issues. SPRe can be very effective in helping discern what the body might be experiencing now, and what future possibilities are available - even if symptoms persist.
Click here for a link to my essay on Elephant Journal about Covid Long-Haulers and stress-related diseases:
“The onset of symptoms or the diagnosis of a disease should prompt a two-pronged inquiry: what is this illness saying about the past and present, and what will help in the future?”
A central SPRe tenet is that everything that we’ve experienced in our entire past is present in our body today. We literally embody our lives! Sometimes these experiences create unnecessary tension; patterns that are unhealthy are layered on top of a nervous system formed by our past, and are signals from the body that there are disconnections and barriers that impede comfortable movement.
Here is a great article about the connection between emotional stress, trauma and pain: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/somatic-psychology/201004/the-connections-between-emotional-stress-trauma-and-physical-pain
Stress in physical form is tension, which acts on any and all the Body’s systems. Stress or tension can be experienced as a nervous-nervous system, contractions, restrictions, compression, and over time can become inflammatory issues and stress related diseases.
Dr. Stephen Porges’ ground-breaking research into the vagus nerve and the fight/flight/freeze/fawn response is giving us vital information about how our body’s nervous system responds to stressful situations, as well as helpful ways we can soothe our nervous systems through co-regulation and attachment with a trusted ally.
“The nervous system is deeply influenced by emotions. In turn, the nervous system is intimately involved in the regulation of immune responses and of inflammation.”
Religious/Spiritual Trauma
Due to my own childhood experiences with religious trauma, I’m very interested in how many religious organizations really strive to separate the bodymind. The mind (cognitive) is treasured and encouraged while the body can often be neglected, negated, reviled, and ignored. This Cartesian separation can show up in attitudes and practices around sexuality and purity, physical health, asceticism, stoicism, and more.
“...the longings of the heart can be expressed only through the vehicle of ‘voice’ that is the body. We cannot express our hopes and desires or act on our loves or express any inner motivation without the body coming along to bring image and expression to what is inside.”
I work with many clients who have come in with heartbreaking disconnections between their cognitive minds and their sensual, amazing, feeling bodies. The body is meant to be our home, and its emotions and feelings are meant to inform us, keep us safe, and help us be healthy.
This bodymind disconnect can lead to tension, chronic pain, stress-related diseases, dissatisfaction in life, and difficulty in finding and sustaining relationships.
Together, we can relationally explore the meaning of the pain and unnecessary tension you may be feeling
In addition to lived stress, the growing field of epigenetics shows that trauma can be inherited. Difficult and traumatic experiences change gene expression. Signals from the environment may operate through cell membranes, controlling the behavior and physiology of that cell, which could silence or activate a gene. These changes are reflected in sperm and ova, which travel down through generations.
Research shows that DNA can be affected by something as simple as negative and positive thoughts, beliefs and emotions.
However, the wonder and beauty of the human brain and nervous system include plasticity and the ability to reverse negative affects. By being present with your nervous system, and exploring the narrative of you and your body, positive changes can occur.
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SPRe is trauma informed and not trauma focused.
Trauma and stress happen in our body, so they must be healed by including the body.
SPRe includes the body and the mind - sensation with cognition - to help the whole You move into greater ease and comfort.
“Trauma always happens in the body. It is a spontaneous protective mechanism used by the body to stop or thwart further (or future) potential damage”
Trauma doesn’t want to be targeted. We have developed necessary defense mechanisms that are important to respect.
What we do want is to build an individual’s structure, footing and preparedness to assist in addressing the trauma when ready.
When we are able to distinguish our traumas from our Identity, they can be metabolized and become our wisdom. Wisdom that in-forms us, and can be shared with others.
I rely on the work of Dr. Gabor Mate on stress-related disease; Dr. Candace Pert, P.hD; Mark Wollyn; as well as Dr. Stephen Porges' polyvagal theory, and attunement/attachment theories.