Can physical symptoms of anxiety and depression be relieved?

In most cases, as the emotional symptoms of anxiety and depression are controlled and relieved, the corresponding physical discomfort will gradually subside. Only a small number of patients with a long course of disease and slight organic changes may have residual symptoms and require targeted physical intervention to improve.

Among the clients with emotional disorders that I have followed up on in the past few years, I was particularly impressed by a 26-year-old young man who was engaged in cross-border e-commerce. He stayed up for three months in a row to catch up on the Black Friday sales, and suddenly he began to suffer from frequent panic attacks and migraines for half a month. He took painkillers for only two hours. At that time, I always felt a twisting pain in my stomach, and even drinking warm porridge made me feel nauseous. I had three physical examinations, gastroscopy, cardiac ultrasound, and brain CT scans, but no organic problems were found. Later, I went to a psychiatrist to be diagnosed with severe anxiety accompanied by somatization. He followed the doctor's advice and took the medicine for two months, plus mindful breathing exercises twice a week. When his anxiety self-rating scale score dropped from 72 to 38, the headache first disappeared. About three months ago, his stomach and intestines were basically normal. Even the tightness that always felt like a stone was pressing on his chest no longer appeared. This kind of physical symptom is purely caused by emotional stress. To put it bluntly, the nerves are constantly stretched and the bow string is stretched, causing pain all over the body. When the bow string is loosened, the pain will naturally disappear.

But not everyone can recover so smoothly. I met a 42-year-old sister last month. Her anxiety has been on and off for almost 7 years. She always felt stiff shoulders and necks, back pain, and occasionally panicked for no reason. She always thought it was cervical spondylosis caused by sitting at the desk for a long time. Even after half a year of acupuncture, it didn't get better. Later, after being diagnosed with anxiety, she took medicine for half a year, and her mood was basically stable. However, my shoulders and neck still feel tight at every turn, and I still get flustered when I feel tired. I went for a follow-up examination and found out that years of muscle tension have led to chronic myofasciitis, and long-term sympathetic nerve excitement has also induced slight sinus arrhythmia. These organic problems that have already formed cannot be improved by regulating mood alone, and must be combined with physical therapy and symptomatic treatment from a cardiology department.

In fact, the industry now has slightly different views on this issue. Some psychiatrists in the research field believe that as long as the emotions are clinically cured, all physical symptoms will slowly subside with the recovery of neural regulation, and there is no need for additional intervention.； But more front-line clinical doctors will be more pragmatic and feel that if physical symptoms have seriously affected life, even if the mood is still in the process of recovery, they can still treat the symptoms first. For example, if the pain is too painful to sleep, use some painkillers temporarily, and if the panic is so overwhelming that you can’t go out, use something to stabilize the heart rate. There is no need to force it. A comfortable body will be more conducive to emotional stability and faster recovery.

To be honest, many people worry about "Why do I still have a headache/chest tightness" as soon as they feel better? In fact, it is completely unnecessary. There is a lag in the regulation of nerves. Just like when you have a cold and the fever subsides, you still have to cough for two days. You can't think that the cold is okay just because you still have a cough, right? If you are really worried, go to the corresponding department for a check-up. If there is really no organic problem, give your body more buffer time and just take your time.