Anxiety associated with autoimmune diseases
This 2023 review study found an association between anxiety and autoimmune disorders. In fact what the meta-analysis found was that individuals experiencing anxiety were 1.28 times more likely to develop…
Mind Over Matter: How Your Perceptions Shape Your Health
Mind over matter? I found these two studies linked here very interesting as they show the power of the mind alone in affecting our health. I will talk about these in a moment. First I find it fascinating…
Thoughts, Emotions, Behaviors
When I think of the brain's role in somatic symptoms, I think of three main outputs the brain can produce that will affect symptoms: 1) thoughts 2) emotions, and 3) behaviors. The brain is continually…
Emotion Regulation Strategies & the Pain Experience
I want to review this new study that came out recently (May 2024) in the Clinical Journal of Pain. The results showed how we deal with emotions in real time can have an immediate effect on our pain experience.…
Are People with Chronic Pain Overthinking the Meaning of Their Pain?
Let's look at a new 2024 research paper that reviewed and looked at the neuroscience data on the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in chronic pain. The authors "suggest an updated model…
Chronic Pain Rewires Circuits in the Cortical Brain
Here'a a 2017 study from New York University that found "that chronic pain rewires circuits in a brain region called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to increase “aversion,” the amount of attention…
What a 20 year study tells us about Anger & bodily symptoms
Anger is a primary emotion in all humans. How couples handle it during conflict can influence which health issues we are prone to getting, according to a 20 year study from UC Berkley and Northwestern…
Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn Symptoms in the Body
One way to understand how the brain can create symptoms in the body is through fight, flight, freeze, fawn nervous system reactions. These stress or trauma reactions are real but they are protective in…
Somatization in those with chronic symptoms
Wanted to touch on somatization again here as it's something that is a focus point of the work I do with people with chronic somatic symptoms. According to this research paper, "more than one-third of…
Insecure Attachment From Childhood Linked to Somatic Symptoms
What is Somatization?
Creating a sense of safety and security within ourselves is important for our brain and nervous system to settle and relax, which helps to reduce somatic symptoms in the body. Research…
