Our society likes to put different things into their various boxes, but in practice this isn’t so easy. If you’ve ever had an upset stomach while anxious, struggled to shower while depressed, or been too stressed to do anything but rest, you’ll know firsthand the connections between mental and physical health.
As your therapist, we’ll primarily be discussing your mental health. In many cases, that will also involve discussing physical health and disability.
Long COVID
As I’ve outlined elsewhere, COVID is still actively spreading. I attribute this largely to governmental and corporate neglect. We’ve been sold a lie about “returning to normal.”
COVID 19, along with other viral illnesses, can lead to prolonged health concerns impacting us in many different ways including POTS, brain fog, chronic fatigue, and more. It is also still deadly.
In addressing COVID related concerns, we’ll discuss grief, safety practices, disability, and identity.
Disability/Chronic Health Conditions
Your body belongs to you and in many ways, you know it better than anyone. In the process of seeking support from healthcare professionals, you’ll likely have dealt with the ableism of someone thinking they know better than you.
If you have a disability or chronic health condition, we might discuss ableism internalized and external, medical trauma, community building, and meeting your needs in and out of our sessions.
Psychosomatics
Psychosomatics refers to an intersection of medicine that deals with mental and physical health simultaneously. A number of scientists have investigated this link through looking at how trauma can lead to inflammation leading to a variety of health issues.
Misguided people have spread a narrative that because a disease or condition might be psychosomatic, that this person must be “making it up.” This narrative couldn’t be further from the truth.
The physical conditions we struggle with connected to our traumas are very real. In this case, a holistic approach to health can support us in our recovery moreso than an approach that focuses just on mental or physical health.
To that end, I’m happy to collaborate with any and all providers you’d like me to be in communication with. Even those who work outside of the traditional medical system.
I’ve seen psychosomatic conditions clear up as a result of changing environments, healing from trauma, and reducing stress. I say this to articulate that it is possible. However, it’s not exactly the kind of thing we can plan for because it won’t be true for everyone.
For more information, you might be interested in watching this video I made discussing Gabor Matés book “When the Body Says No:”