Emotional Causes of Pain

More often than not, emotional pain is being dismissed as they are thought to be less significant than physical pain. However, it is very important to realise that emotional pain actually has a huge impact on a person’s physical and mental health.

Research has been done and it suggests that both emotional and physical pain may share some neurological similarities as both emotional and physical pain are linked to changes in the cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex

Emotional pain is a kind of psychological pain that comes from non-physical sources. It could be originate from an insult or hurtful words from someone else or as a result of grief, regrets or losing of love ones. In some cases, it can be a result of some underlying mental disorder such as anxiety or depression.

Sometimes, people also refer emotional pain as psychic pain, spiritual pain, psychological pain, emotional suffering, soul pain or mental pain.

Symptoms

Some symptoms of emotional pain includes the feeling of:

• Shame
• Worthlessness
• Useless
• Sad
• Rage
• Anxious
• Loneliness
• Intense distress
• Deep sorrow

In some severe cases, emotional pain can cause physical symptoms that has no identifiable physical cause or trauma.

Causes

There are numerous emotions that most people feel from time to time that can later develop into emotional pain if the emotions are intensified or persistent, which can affect a person’s daily living due to inability to function and perform normal daily activities. Some major emotions are listed below.

• Sadness – a perfectly natural emotion until it becomes persistent, which might then lead to depression.
• Unexpressed Anger – poor anger management can lead to long-term physical consequences
• Anxiety – anxiety can result in jumpiness, inability to relax or being immobilised or stuck
• Shame and Guilt – often result in a feeling of weight in the stomach, may lead to physical symptoms if not properly addressed.

Physical Symptoms of emotional overloading

Here is a list of physical symptoms that might occur due to poorly managed emotions.

• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Muscle ache
• Neck pain
• Stomach ache

Treatment

Most of the treatments for emotional pain usually involve resolving the underlying source of the symptoms. The two main type of treatments include psychotherapy and medication.

Psychotherapy can help with emotional pain by utilising talk therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy, which focuses on identifying negative emotions that might have caused the psychological pain and replacing them with more adaptive, realistic and positive thoughts and behaviour.

Coping

As emotional pain can be very distressing, people often turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as drugs and alcohol to try and numb the pain. Although drugs and alcohol do provide short-term relief of the symptoms, but they will cause greater damage in the long run, which isn’t worth it.

Here we recommend some healthier coming mechanisms that can help you manage your emotional pain:

• Find someone you can talk to: Talking to the people you trust is one of the best way to help coping with your emotional pain as they can provide tremendous social supports that will really help you through harsh time.
• Exercising: Research has shown that exercise is one of the most effective way to enhance your mood, which helps you deal with difficult emotional pain. Furthermore, it will help you with any physical symptoms you might be having. Exercising with a few friends can also be a helpful when it comes to social support.
• Practicing mindfulness: this is a coping mechanism where you try to focus on the present moment, be more aware of your emotions but also stress learning to accept and let go of the need to control or eliminate the difficult emotions.

At Lakeside Chiropractic, our experienced chiropractors can help you by easing some of your physical pain such as neck or muscle pain, allowing you to engage in exercises and cope with those difficult emotions easier and healthier. Lakeside chiropractic is located in Joondalup in Perth’s north and has visitors from many different suburbs including, Padbury, Kinross, Mindarie, Sorrento, Iluka, Carramar, Currambine, Tapping, Pearsall, Hocking and Woodvale. HICAPS Facilities available on site for major private health insurers (NIB, HCF, HBF, AHM, HCI and HIF) and also a part of the Medibank preferred practitioner and BUPA Members first network. If you would like to discuss any concerns, have any enquires or wish to book an appointment; feel free to contact one of our friendly staff on 9300 0095 or visit our website at www.lakesidechiro.com.au.