How Repressed Emotions Are Making You Sick: The Mind-Body Connection
The Link Between Repressed Emotions and Physical Health
Repressed emotions don’t just disappear. They often show up in the body as physical symptoms. When feelings like anger, grief, or fear are pushed down instead of processed, the nervous system stays stuck in stress responses that can lead to chronic health problems. Understanding how suppressing emotions impacts both mental health and physical health is the first step toward healing the mind-body connection and finding relief through trauma-informed therapy approaches like somatic therapy.
How Does Everyday Stress Turn Into Illness?
Almost everyone has dealt with scenarios similar to this, where everyday stress turns into a physical symptom. Picture this:
You are late getting into work and hit every stoplight on the way. Your favorite coffee shop that you planned on stopping at is now out of the question because you simply don’t have the time. You skid into your first meeting, feeling the pressure to switch into work mode quickly. You answer emails and put out fires all day, and at 1:00 you realize you haven’t eaten yet. You scarf down lunch at your next meeting, feeling like you have had about 2 minutes total to even think about going pee. It is now 5:30 pm and the tasks you swore you would get done today are still left undone. As soon as you get into your car, you notice a massive headache starting at your shoulders and going all the way up to the top of your head. Your eyes are blurry. You have heart palpitations.
We look at this common scenario and can clearly see that neglect of this person’s physical needs and the constant demands from work created a stress headache, correct? For some reason, this is easily acceptable to people, but getting fibromyalgia, migraines, and IBS from repressed emotions is too far of a leap. Today, let’s take a look at how unfelt feelings could be playing a role in your health.
What Does the ACE’s Study Reveal About Trauma and Health?
The ACE’s Study is a landmark study about childhood trauma and its impacts on health outcomes over time. The ACE’s Study was one of the first studies that actually confirmed that there is not only correlation between the two, but causation. Participants were given a survey that asked if they had experienced any of the following:
Sexual abuse
Physical abuse
Emotional abuse
Household member with a mental illness
Household member with a substance abuse issue
Parental separation or divorce
Incarcerated household member
Emotional neglect
Physical neglect
Witnessing domestic violence
Some of the health outcomes to having a score of 4 or more on the ACE’s questionnaire are: diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, substance abuse issues, and depression. This is clearly showing that trauma is stored in the body.
Curious about the ACE’s questionnaire? Take a look at it here.
Understanding the Mind-Body Connection
In the west, we have all but bisected humans into mind and body, operating completely independently of each other. Thanks to modalities like Somatic Experiencing and EMDR, we are now beginning to acknowledge in the psychotherapy world that this way of thinking is not correct and is not the way to facilitate healing.
Emotions Are Neurobiological Responses
Emotions are not just felt in the mind. They are neurobiological responses. In his book, The Practice of Embodying Emotions, Raja Selvam explains that feelings are emotional and physical, and that by listening to the body we are getting a fuller picture of how to take care of that feeling and what it needs. Especially with trauma, there is a special role that the nervous system plays with these emotions.
How Can Avoiding Your Feelings Make You Sick?
Whether it is because we are stuck in fight, flight, or freeze that never got to fully be expressed and so our body keeps up this loop over and over again, or our body is signaling the the feelings we are having are too dangerous to feel, thus invoking the same fight, flight, or freeze response, there is bound to be pain.
There are so many parts of human anatomy involved in chronic fight, flight and freeze responses.
Symptoms of the Fight and Flight Responses
Tense muscles
Bracing in the pelvic floor, abdomen, jaw
Exhaustion of the adrenal glands
Disruption to the digestive system, and therefore nutrient uptake
Irregular heartbeat
Difficulty with respiratory diaphragm being too tight
Symptoms of the Freeze Response
Disruption of the digestive system and nutrient uptake
Sluggish adrenals
Laxity of muscles
Lack of vigilance
Difficulty with energy for daily tasks
Read More About Fight, Flight, or Freeze >
This is by no means and exhaustive list, but are some of the ways in which the human system can be disrupted due to the way the body reacts to being overly stressed out about feeling emotion.
Kathy Kain, a bodyworker, teacher, and trauma specialist, is a pioneer in the trauma healing world who I have had the honor of learning under. Here you can hear her speak more about this connection between physiology, trauma, and emotion.
The Cost of Avoiding Your Feelings
What Are Common Ways People Repress Emotions?
Not feeling your feelings looks like avoidance. Repression is a word that you will hear all of the time, and we repress our feelings by avoiding.
Here are some common tactics people use in order to avoid their emotions:
Eating
Intellectualizing their feelings
Alcohol
Television
Reading
Exercising
Staying busy
Pornography
Shopping
Working
Most of the time we start to employ these tactics at a subconscious level which sends the feedback loop to our systems that we are safe at that moment. But, over time, our emotional reserve builds up to the point that we can no longer ignore it, and physical symptoms start to manifest.
What Are The Physical Symptoms of Suppressed Emotions?
In addition to emotional signs like irritability, frustration when others show emotions, or avoiding therapy, repressed feelings often manifest physically.
Common physical symptoms of suppressed emotions include:
Chronic headaches
Digestive issues
Muscle tension in the jaw, neck, or shoulders
Fatigue
Irregular heartbeat
Sleep disturbances
Over time, the nervous system remains in a state of stress, which can contribute to more serious health concerns such as high blood pressure, autoimmune conditions, and persistent pain.
Recognizing these physical symptoms of suppressed emotions is an important step in understanding the mind-body connection and seeking support through trauma-informed therapy.
How Can Somatic Therapy Help With Repressed Emotions?
Building Tolerance Through Pendulation
Somatic therapy can help by helping people to build tolerance to feel their feelings by allowing the person to go back and forth between calm and activation, which is called pendulation. Somatic therapists, like those at Embodied Healing KC, guide the client to be mindful and aware of how they are tolerating the feeling, making sure that it is just enough discomfort without being too much. Somatic therapists also help the client track their nervous system in order to create a positive feedback loop to the client that feeling that emotion isn’t going to cause them harm.
Closing Trauma Loops and Restoring Safety
Somatic therapy also helps clients to close trauma loops. Instead of a person constantly feeling a freeze response, for example, when somebody asks them a question, they can get help in somatic therapy to find feelings of safety while in connection with another person so that the attention no longer feels threatening.
Reducing Allostatic Load for Better Health
All of this work decreases the allostatic load on the body, which greatly increases the chances that the physiology will return back to homeostasis and vitality.
Is Somatic Therapy Right for You?
If you’ve noticed the physical symptoms of suppressed emotions, such as chronic tension, fatigue, or digestive issues, or you feel stuck in patterns of stress and overwhelm, somatic therapy may be the next step in your healing journey. This body-based approach helps release repressed emotions, calm the nervous system, and restore balance between mind and body.
At Embodied Healing KC, our trauma-informed therapists guide you with compassion and skill, helping you safely process emotions and build resilience. If you’re curious about whether somatic therapy could be beneficial for you, we invite you to reach out and explore how this powerful method of therapy can support your health and emotional well-being.
Happy Healing!
Frequently Asked Questions About Repressed Emotions
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Repressing emotions can cause physical symptoms like headaches, digestive issues, muscle tension, and even chronic illnesses. Over time, suppressed feelings overload the nervous system and affect overall health.
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Trauma is stored in the body through incomplete stress responses. When fight, flight, or freeze reactions cannot resolve, the nervous system stays on high alert, leading to tension, pain, and long-term health problems.
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The mind-body connection shows how emotions influence physical health. In trauma therapy, addressing both bodily sensations and thoughts helps clients release repressed emotions and restore balance.
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Somatic therapy helps clients feel emotions safely by tracking body sensations, practicing pendulation, and resolving trauma loops. This supports the nervous system in returning to regulation and health.
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Signs include irritability, emotional outbursts, avoiding therapy, overworking, or relying on distractions like food, alcohol, or TV. These coping patterns may mask deeper emotional pain.
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Yes. Somatic therapy can ease physical symptoms like chronic tension, digestive issues, irregular heartbeat, and fatigue by resolving stored trauma in the body and restoring nervous system balance.
Stevie Olson-Spiegel is a Licensed Therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner located in Kansas City. She uses Somatic Experiencing as her main body-based trauma healing modality, as well as EMDR. As an Intuitive Eating Counselor, she uses these principles to help her clients challenge their relationship with their cultural misconceptions about their body and food.
