Exploring the Link Between Physical Health and Mental Wellbeing

Our physical and mental health are so interconnected that it is often challenging to discern whether an issue began as a physical health concern that evolved into a mental health problem or the other way around. For example, chronic stress can result in mental health challenges such as difficulty focusing, irritability, anxiety, depression, or burnout. It can also lead to physical symptoms like gastrointestinal problems, muscle tension, and headache. Conversely, chronic pain or ongoing health issues can contribute to increased stress and anxiety, manifesting as irritability, difficulty concentrating, frustration, or feeling overwhelmed. This can culminate in strained relationships, heightened isolation, depression, non-adherence to medication, and a general decline in the quality of life.

As a result of his interconnectedness, individuals with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, or chronic pain frequently face higher rates of depression, anxiety, and diminished quality of life. Likewise, mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety, can exacerbate physical health conditions and hinder recovery.

There are two overarching reasons these two are so interconnected:

• Both physical and mental health share the same physiological processes. For instance, our hormones regulate both our physical and psychological functions. As humans, we are continually growing and changing. Therefore, we may encounter unique challenges at each new life stage. Some of these challenges may be typical for a certain life stage, while our genetic makeup, life history, and personality may shape others. Transitioning from one stage to another may involve both physiological and psychological changes, for example, those during adolescence, young adulthood, when becoming a parent, entering menopause or midlife, scaling down on work and encountering more health-related challenges during late adulthood and ultimately facing the realities of an end to life.

  
  

• Our lifestyle choices and environment influence both our physical and mental health. For example, inadequate sleep, poor nutrition, and substance abuse significantly affect both. Environmental factors, such as stressful or high-pressure work conditions, economic strain, unsafe or unsanitary living conditions, societal violence, crime, chronic danger, and discrimination, further impact our ability to care for ourselves physically and emotionally.

  
  

To help a client and myself understand what they are experiencing, my initial session (or two) always involves discussing their overall health, work context, the quality of their close interpersonal relationships, potential economic and safety pressures, and their understanding of their current situation. Not only does such a holistic, whole-person approach provide a comprehensive picture of a client's lived experience, but it also assists us in devising a plan to address key issues and enhance their quality of life and mental well-being. Furthermore, we can utilise these connections and pathways between physical and mental health to gain traction. For instance, developing self-regulation, problem-solving, and decision-making skills can help mitigate the risk of more serious physical conditions. Strategies such as exercise, mindfulness establishing healthy boundaries, prioritising needs and responsibilities, and clarifying what you can control and what not can support you in reclaiming a sense of control.

I can never be an expert on what it is like to be you, so I can never simply give you instructions on what to do. Counselling must be a collaborative process where we both share knowledge that can be pooled, allowing us to chart a better way of being. Therefore, finding a mental health professional with whom you feel comfortable and who you can envision building a trusting, honest, and safe relationship is essential. This does not mean that the process will always be comfortable. Climbing a mountain is not always easy, but having a trusted partner helps you push through the difficult parts to reach the summit. In a counselling relationship, I resonate with the well-known existential psychiatrist Irvin Yalom, who said:

"Though there are many phrases for the therapeutic relationship (patient/therapist, client/counsellor, analysand/analyst, client/facilitator and the latest - and by far the most repulsive - user/provider), none of these phrases accurately convey my sense of the therapeutic relationship. Instead, I prefer to think of my patients and myself as fellow travellers, a term that abolishes the distinction between 'them' (the afflicted) and 'us' (the healers)."

Irvin Yalom, The Gist of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients.