Can Emotions Cause Physical Pain?

What you think matters more than you can imagine…

Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash

Have you ever read, heard, or seen something so devastating and painful, that you can feel your heart plummet as a heavy thud that sinks in the bottom of your stomach? Or, a reaction so severe that your chest physically aches, you get a shortness of breath, your stomach constricts and writhes?
The famous saying goes without question that “life is like a box of chocolates.” Another fitting metaphor is that of “life is a rollercoaster.” More specifically, an emotional one filled with highs and lows, winding, twisting roadways left and right. Believe it or not, these emotional obstacles, whether good or bad, can have a physical impact on our bodies. Of course, there is physical pain resulting from a multitude of things, as little as a tiny stinging papercut to a broken bone. However, this article is a connecting deep-dive between emotions and our bodily reactions. Today, we’ll focus on the more negative emotions and how they are unfavorable to our bodies.
Taking a different route, research shows that emotional stressors can trigger many chronic pains. Our brains can sometimes interpret pain in a particular way; nerve responders hold on to pain (pain memory), or people dealing with trauma turn to unhealthy, damaging coping mechanisms.