I Tried Self Therapy and This Happened

Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash

I think we could all use a little help these days. Worry, stress, anxiety, fear and frustration are at an all-time high. Combine that with a solid dose of shame, guilt, and uncertainty, and it’s a recipe for disaster.

Mental health is no laughing matter. When I started feeling the physical ramifications of all the stress and worry I’ve been carrying around for years showing up in the form of panic attacks, hives, chest pains, limb numbness, body aches, moodiness, irritability, and fatigue, I brushed it off: ‘Oh, it’s just stress…’ Or ‘Oh, it’s just the transition into menopause…”

And while both were obvious culprits, I wasn’t taking into account just how much life’s stresses and pressures were affecting me on a much deeper level, down to every cell in my body.

Stress has consequences at the cellular level, which is why things like heart attacks, strokes, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and asthma have a direct correlation to stress and depression. According to a study published in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience: “stress is known to activate distinct neuronal circuits in the brain and induce multiple changes on the cellular level, including alterations in neuronal structures.” Our brains respond to stress with “fight or flight”, or an acute stress response. It’s natural for humans to respond to threatening…