When the body keeps hiding the wounds,

[The Neuroscience of Somatization: When physiology is the bearer of suffering instead of the brain]

Physical pain that cannot determine a medical cause, such as why chronic shoulder pain when not working hard, why tightening your chest like suffocation when you have to attend a meeting, or why irritable bowel syndrome when confronted with family problems. These symptoms are not self-thinking, but a neuroscience mechanism called Somatization.

When the brain is faced with stress or mental suffering that is too intense to process, the nervous system pushes the emotional burden down to the physiological system, to get away from abstract pain. Distress hiding causes the HPA Axis stress response system to continuously secrete cortisol, causing cellular inflammation and damaging muscle structure, leading to real physical pain.

In addition, emotional wounds are recorded in cellular memories through the Vagus Nerve nerve, causing the body to show an automatic response in the face of pressure. Remedies for this condition cannot be achieved with attitude modification alone, but require physical processes (Somatic Approach), such as stretching and imposing breath, to send safety signals back to the central nervous system and unlock wounds embedded in the physiology.

Reference research

Van der Kolk, B. A. (2020). "The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma." Penguin Books.

(Texts and foundation research results that explain the mechanisms of brain activity that implant negative memories into physiology, leading to inoperable physical illness).

Porges, S. W. (2021). "Polyvagal Theory: A biobehavioral journey to sociality." Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, 7, 100069.

(The research analyzes the function of the vagus nerve in linking emotion to visceral function and stress management processes).