The Link Between Bodily Discomfort and Unwanted Emotions

Take a moment and notice how your body feels. Move your attention to your head, jaw, neck, shoulders, spine, lower back, and anywhere else that draws your focus. Do you notice any pain, tension, stiffness, or discomfort? If there’s an area that doesn’t feel great, especially if you notice it consistently, this article may help you understand why.

When we feel discomfort in our body, it’s easy to dismiss it. Perhaps we’ve been sitting for a long time, or driving too much. Perhaps we are under pressure to perform at work. Maybe we tweaked our back a few months ago and it’s still not quite better. Maybe we have an old injury that acts up sometimes. But it’s still bothersome and detracts from our quality of life, especially when it won’t go away. 

If it won’t go away, it’s often for an emotional reason rather than a physical reason.

The reason has to do with a phenomenon called somatization by which our consciousness converts unwanted emotions into physical pain. It’s an automatic response that allows us to keep functioning when our emotions would otherwise cause trouble for us, and it often works by co-opting existing sensations in the body. This is why the pain appears to come from an obvious physical source.

For example, if you are stressed out by your job, and then you lift something heavy and strain your back, the sensations of discomfort from the strain can be co-opted and amplified by somatization. The result is that you feel less stress from your job, but more pain, and the pain lasts much longer than it would otherwise.

So the question is, where do these unwanted emotions come from? They may appear to come from obvious sources such as work, relationships, or life, but ultimately they come from trauma.

My definition of trauma is any past experience that negatively affects you in the present. If you’re new to this definition, take a moment and consider it. That thing that happened when you were 6, which wasn’t that bad compared to what other people have gone through, still left a mark. Going to school and being evaluated constantly leaves several marks. Anything that makes you doubt yourself, push yourself too hard, or feel like you are anything other than a perfect being of light and love, is trauma.

Trauma creates intense emotions that feel overwhelming. It feels like fully expressing these emotions might attract unwanted attention, lead to punishment, or otherwise threaten our survival. Somatization is the “solution” to the feeling of overwhelm, but it doesn’t solve the underlying cause.

So in the example of back pain distracting from job stress, it’s often a few steps to get to the source of the problem. The “stress” feeling about the job is likely distracting from even deeper feelings, such as helplessness. There may be several layers. Because the pain compensates for the stress, which compensates for helplessness, and so on, the best solution is to find and resolve the deepest layer of trauma. Doing so will eliminate the stress, the back pain, and any other layers because they will no longer be needed.

However, you may not feel any of these emotions at all. You may just feel an ache in your lower back. You may wonder if this article applies to you. If you’re curious, here’s an exercise that can help you experience what I’m talking about.

First, imagine that you are a tiny version of yourself that can fly anywhere in or around your body. For example, imagine looking at yourself from outside your body like another person would see you.

Next, imagine flying in close to the area where you feel the discomfort, using x-ray vision to see into your body. For example, if the discomfort is in your lower back, imagine flying in right next to the vertebra that feels uncomfortable.

As you get closer, see if you can sense an emotion radiating from where you feel the discomfort, like heat emanating from a hot coal. It might feel like anger, sadness, or fear, or it might be a nameless jumble that doesn’t make any sense. This emotion is the reason you’ve been in pain. Congratulations, you have experienced somaticized emotion. (If you can’t feel it, don’t worry. There are some cases where trauma-based discomfort doesn’t include an emotion, and of course, somatization does not happen universally. But it happens a lot more than people realize.)

Now that you understand how trauma causes bodily discomfort through somatization, what can you do about it? The answer depends on whether you want to heal the trauma or compensate for it. Most conventional advice revolves around compensation because it’s much easier. Similar to having a leaky tire on your car, it’s much easier to pump up the tire than to repair it. The downside is that’s temporary, and you have to keep doing it or you end up back where you started.

Consistent exercise is one of the best ways to compensate for trauma, especially where pain or discomfort is involved. Exercising acclimates you to discomfort because exercise itself is uncomfortable, so it makes you better able to tolerate it. It also releases a host of rewarding neurotransmitters, which improve mood and offset the effect of trauma. These two aspects, plus being free or low-cost, make exercise a great option.

If you want to heal the trauma, the best way is to find a practitioner who can help you. Healing trauma is the most effective option because it eliminates the source of the emotions that cause pain and tension. Similar to repairing a leaky tire, once it’s done, you never have to think about it again. Your neck or back will simply not hurt in that way anymore. There’s nothing to remember or maintain. You’ll probably forget you even had it unless someone reminds you. I can help you precisely target and heal a wide variety of traumas, including those that cause chronic pain or discomfort.

Somatization can turn emotional pain into physical discomfort, impacting your quality of life. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Whether you choose to manage the symptoms or address the root cause, there are effective paths forward. If you’re ready to move beyond temporary solutions and heal the trauma behind your pain, I’m here to guide you. Together, we can work towards lasting relief and a life free from the burden of pain and unresolved emotions.