The field of medicine has become very segmented.

In a way, this is a good thing.

Doctors often specialize in specific areas or around certain functions of the body.

And as the human body is so incredibly sophisticated, it makes sense that we’d want experts on various parts of the body.  Generalists can’t tell you in detail how certain parts of the body function.

As a general practitioner, I understand a great deal about the health of the brain. But if you gave me a scalpel and asked me to conduct a 15-hour brain surgery on someone to alleviate an advanced neurological condition, I simply couldn’t do it.

One of the issues I see with modern medicine is that people and practitioners are losing sight of how various influences can impact the body.

If you’re into integrative health or have been following me for a while, then you know that the unseen realm of toxins, food allergies, or hormone imbalances is behind a ton of health problems.

Most people and a vast majority of doctors don’t think to factor in those other influences when they attempt to fix a person.

Now, what’s probably even more surprising is how many people in medicine don’t think about how our emotions affect health.

That’s what I’m going to discuss today.

Yes, Emotions Can Dictate Health Outcomes

You don’t have to believe in energy medicine or subscribe to niche healing philosophies to see that emotions affect physical health.

Anyone who’s ever had a panic attack knows this. Anyone who’s felt their stomach turn before a stressful meeting knows it too.

Our emotional states are deeply connected to our bodies, primarily through the nervous system, immune system, and hormonal pathways. And when strong emotions, especially negative ones, go unprocessed, they don’t just disappear.

They lodge themselves in our systems. Sometimes subtly. Sometimes with force.

Over time, these “trapped emotions,” as some call them, can create chronic tension, inflammation, and immune dysfunction and even contribute to the development of long-term health issues.

The Science Is There Even If It’s Not Mainstream

This isn’t just woo woo pseudo science. Plenty of published research has explored the links between emotional repression or unresolved trauma and physical disease.

In 1995, a landmark study known as the ACE Study (Adverse Childhood Experiences) showed that people who experienced more emotional hardship and trauma in childhood were significantly more likely to develop chronic diseases later in life, including heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune disorders. The stress and emotional strain of unresolved early-life experiences didn’t just stay in the mind. It showed up in the body.

Other studies have found that emotional suppression can lead to heightened cortisol levels, increased inflammation, and altered immune response, all of which set the stage for chronic illness.

Now, what makes this tricky is that most of us don’t walk around saying, “Oh, I’ve trapped emotions in my left shoulder from that time in 8th grade.” Right?

These things aren’t always obvious. They can be subtle, deeply buried, and manifest as generalized pain, poor digestion, fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, or even patterns we can’t quite explain.

How Emotions Actually “Get Trapped”

You may be wondering, how can an emotion get stuck?

One explanation comes from how our nervous system processes experience. If an event is overwhelming and we don’t have the tools, support, or even the awareness to process the feelings that came with it, our bodies can hold onto that charge.

It’s kind of like an alarm that never fully resets.

Instead of discharging the stress, our body adapts around it, tightening muscles, increasing vigilance, and altering hormones. And if this goes on for years, it can start to alter posture, digestion, sleep cycles, immune function, and more.

It doesn’t help that most of us were raised to downplay or ignore emotional distress. “Toughen up.” “Get over it.” “Push through.”

And that’s what we do. But the body remembers. There’s an incredibly comprehensive book on this exact phenomenon called “The Body Keeps The Score.”

This book is so thorough and so well-researched that on Amazon, it has more than 78,000 reviews with a 5-star rating.

The Gut-Brain Connection Is a Perfect Example

In my career, I’ve seen how this can affect patients firsthand, especially when it comes to GI symptoms like IBS, chronic bloating, constipation, or reflux.

In many of these cases, they’ve tried all the diets, they’ve done the supplements, they’ve even been on medications, and still they’re struggling.

And when we get into their stress history, emotional losses, childhood experiences, it becomes clear that the gut isn’t just struggling with food. It’s struggling with emotion.

Now this isn’t something I “diagnose” per se, but it’s something that is present.

The enteric nervous system (the “second brain” in your gut) is loaded with neurotransmitters and is in constant communication with the brain. Stress, anxiety, grief, they all hit the gut directly. This is why people feel nauseous before a speech or lose their appetite after heartbreak.

Now imagine what happens when that stress isn’t momentary, but chronic and unresolved…

Not good!

It Can Be Hard to Address Health Without Addressing Emotional Health

In my clinic and on the blog at Health As It Ought To Be, I’ve talked extensively about root causes, heavy metals, mold exposure, hormone imbalances, poor diet, and environmental toxins.

And what’s undeniable is that all of that exists in the same body that carries our emotional history.

And in some cases, I’ve seen people experience dramatic healing after working through old grief or processing trauma, sometimes even more so than when they tried yet another supplement protocol.

Now, I’m not suggesting that every symptom is emotional. That would be oversimplified and unfair. But I am suggesting that emotions should be considered part of the equation, and that unresolved ones, especially ones that have been buried for years, can keep you stuck in chronic patterns of dysfunction.

What You Can Do to Help Heal From Negative Emotions

There are many paths to healing emotional residue. Some of my patients work with therapists who specialize in trauma. Others use somatic therapy, EMDR, breathwork, journaling, or even structured nervous system retraining programs like DNRS or Gupta.

Some people benefit from gentle bodywork (like craniosacral therapy), acupuncture, or practices that help the body feel safe enough to “let go” of stored tension. Others simply start by making space for their emotions, acknowledging them instead of running from them.

What matters most is that you give your emotions the same level of attention and respect you’d give your gut, your liver, or your hormones because they’re all part of the same system.

In integrative health, we don’t separate the mind from the body. We can’t.

And if you’ve been stuck in a health rut, not making progress despite “doing everything right,” don’t forget to ask the harder questions:

What am I holding on to?
What needs to be felt?
What’s asking to be released?

Sometimes, the way forward has more to do with what we’ve buried than what we’re taking.