How Your Mental Health Impacts Your Physical Health
In today’s discussions about embracing taking care of your mental health, we often talk a lot about how we take care of our physical health problems but not our mental. If you’ve been in any conversation about advocating for mental health treatment, I’m sure you’ve heard some version of “You would go to the doctor if you broke a bone or if you were physically sick, so why not go to a therapist when your brain is having trouble processing or making sense of what you’re feeling or going through”.
We often think of ‘mind’ and ‘body’ as separate entities, when really, they should be considered as one. When our mind is not clear, our body can (and will) eventually begin to suffer. Sometimes, in not so obvious ways. Many people report to doctor’s offices reporting chronic pain, unexplained and undiagnosable back pain, constant fatigue and lack of energy, significant weight gain or weight loss, high blood pressure, low blood pressure and even feeling like they’re having a heart attack. The doctor runs tests, sends them out to specialists, draws their blood for answers – but everything comes back normal.
When exploring possible triggers for these physical symptoms that just won’t seem to go away, a lot of times our emotional state is the culprit. In many doctor’s offices, they have an ‘integrated behavioral health and primary care model’, which means there is a behavioral health specialist working on the team of doctors who explores the emotional and psychological factors they may be stopping you from feeling better physically, or stopping you from accomplishing your goals.
Depression and anxiety are two of the main culprits that impact you physically, emotionally and psychologically. Gone unaddressed, they can lead you to feel like you’re literally falling apart. It’s important to be real with yourself and be open to the idea that your emotions and psychological state may be making it hard for you to feel better!
Sometimes, you may not even know exactly what depression or anxiety is to even be able to identify that as part of the challenge. Depression does not automatically equal feeling extremely sad or suicidal, it can sometimes look like someone who navigates through life everyday – going to work, taking your kids to soccer practice, etc - but isolating yourself from loved ones, not sleeping at night and not having the desire to engage in the activities you used to enjoy doing.
If you know you’ve recently experienced some challenging times - maybe you witnessed something traumatic, or the feeling of heartbreak after losing a loved one has continued to linger on, or maybe life just seems to not be working out the way you envisioned and it has you worried, confused, overwhelmed or down, consider talking to someone about it.
If you’re experiencing physical health challenges that seem to be hard to overcome, talk to your doctor about the possibility of emotions playing a part. They’ll ask you some questions and explore, and possibly refer you to someone who can help.
If you know your emotions are the culprit after reading this, consider talking to a therapist. Not sure if you’re ready to commit to the journey of therapy just yet? Consider using your employer’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefits. Many employers have an EAP program that will offer short-term therapy options (like 3-8 sessions) to help you figure out next steps and make sense of your current emotional/psychological state.
The first step to feeling happier and healthier is to acknowledge your mind and body as one, and make effort to take care of them together.