10 Common Symptoms and Their Emotional Root Cause

As much as we try to resist it, we are emotional beings living an emotional life.

We can’t escape from all the feelings that living here brings up for us, and so our only choice is to embrace them. The problem is for many of us is that we don’t understand what our emotions are telling us, and we don’t know how to process them.

We also tend to shy away from uncomfortable emotions and feelings, as this is what we’ve been taught to do by our families, as well as within the society that we’ve grown up in.

Certainly in the UK there is a “just get on with it” approach. The British culture has a deeply embedded belief that showing emotions is a sign of weakness, not a strength - boys aren’t supposed to cry and women are criticised for being too emotional, and many of us grow up learning to minimise our feelings in order to stay composed and agreeable. Over time though this quiet emotional restraint can become so normalised that we don’t even realise how much we’re holding in.

If you also consider the family and culture you grew up in, you may begin to notice how you were taught to understand and process emotions, or perhaps how little guidance there was around this at all.

Ignoring our painful emotions

Our lifetime on earth is a blessing wrapped in harshness and I don’t think it’s an easy ride here, for any soul that is having a human experience. It is both a beautiful place to be, filled with so much lightness, love and joy, yet it can also be incredibly dark, heavy and full of suffering.

No one moves through life unscathed, and at different points, it is hard for all of us. I believe this is one of the reasons so many of us choose not to engage with our emotions - because feeling deeply can be painful.

When we avoid what sits beneath the surface within us, or don’t know how to gently bring it up to be felt and released, we often fall into habits that take us even further away from feeling.

Whether through distraction and avoidance, or numbing and escaping, we do what we can to protect ourselves from discomfort, turning to addictions, our phones, or anything in our external world that can act as a buffer.

And, a lot of the time, we’re not really aware we’re doing it. It’s just second-nature to us.

Like avoiding the Sunday anxiety ahead of Monday’s work by binge watching TV. Or a glass of wine every night to dull overwhelm and stress from the day we’ve had. Or eating throughout the day to stave off the fear that’s hiding behind procrastination. We all do it, and there’s no judgement in it.

We’re here to gently remember how to feel, to become aware of the many ways we’ve been avoiding ourselves, and to create space for what’s been underneath the surface.

Symptoms are a sign of unreleased emotional stress

So, if we don’t allow ourselves to feel and process the emotions within us, where do they go?

The mind and body is one unit and there is no separation between our emotions, and every cell in our body that is feeling them. Emotions are carried through the water in the cells - and essentially our body is one huge, living, breathing, moving self.

Every cell contains all that we are.

When we don’t process emotions our body stores them for us, and this is when parts of our body start to signal, usually through a symptom of some kind, that there’s something we need to bring our attention to. The symptom is the starting point to gain our awareness, and if we don’t do anything, it can often lead to deeper dis-ease in the body.

My experience of giving Kinesiology sessions, where there was always an emotional component relating to a client’s symptoms, as well as the deeper emotional work I do now, leads me to believe that our emotions are the bedrock of our health and vitality.

This is where Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) alongside all the other ancient and wise healing modalities, plays such a key role. TCM has an understanding that different parts of the body, and the organs within those parts, hold specific emotional patterns, which you can read all about here.

While not all symptoms, dis-ease and illness have an emotional root cause, the cause is always an imbalance of some kind, and in my experience, emotions always play a key role. Most especially, the unprocessed trauma of the past that is yet to be acknowledged and gently processed by you in this present moment.

10 common symptoms and their emotional root cause

So, here’s a little overview of the most common symptoms in the body, and what they’re trying to tell us.

The information below is a culmination of the brilliant work of Louise Hay, Evette Rose and Michael J. Lincoln who are all experts in this field, and gifts to humanity and our collective awakening process (and if you want to explore the five books that have transformed my own healing journey, here they are for you).

Headaches

“Pressure builds when we demand too much of ourselves.” - Louise Hay

While headaches can often be around dehydration and a poor diet that puts strain on the liver, headaches also arise when the mind has been carrying too much for too long. There can be a sense of pressure or mental strain, such constant thinking, or the feeling that you have to keep going, keep deciding, keep holding everything together internally. Emotionally, headaches can reflect an inner environment that rarely gets to rest, where expectations, usually self-imposed but also external, create tension that never fully releases. Rather than something being “wrong,” the body may be asking for more rest, moments of mental stillness, or for permission to let go of the tight grip or control, self-criticism and perfectionism.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘The Illusion of Control: Unpacking Perfectionism’

Neck pain

“Stiffness reflects resistance to another point of view.” - Louise Hay

Neck pain often shows up when there’s a feeling of holding firm in life - mentally, emotionally, or energetically - and not having the flexibility to open up your perspective and see a situation differently. It can be linked with deep resistance and inflexibility, particularly during situations that feel uncomfortable or confronting. And this is exactly where the old saying “he/she’s a pain in the neck” comes from. Emotionally, the neck reflects how willing we are to turn, adapt, or open our stance. When this area becomes tight or painful, the body may be highlighting an inner struggle between staying rigid for safety and allowing movement, trust, or change. When we let go of needing to be right, or needing to be in control, the neck often relaxes on its own.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘Four Hidden Blocks That Keep Us Playing Small’

Shoulder tension

“We carry our burdens on our shoulders.” - Michael J. Lincoln

The shoulders are frequently associated with responsibility and carrying emotional burdens for too long. Tension here can accumulate when you’re carrying more than feels manageable, especially if you’re used to being the dependable one, the supporter, or the steady presence for others. Emotionally, this may reflect a habit of taking on burdens without checking whether they’re truly yours to hold - especially the burdens of the state of the world, the people around you, or things outside of your control. This often happens to the people who feel like they need to be strong for everyone around them, but they forget to allow themselves to also be taken care of. Shoulder tension can be the body’s gentle way of asking what might happen if you allowed yourself to put some of that weight down.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘How to Let Go of Hardship and the Cycle of Self-Punishment’

Upper back pain

“Pain here often reflects feeling unsupported in life.” - Evette Rose

Upper back pain is often connected with emotional responsibility and the experience of giving without feeling equally supported. It can arise when you’re consistently holding space for others, offering your strength, care and love, while quietly feeling unseen or unheld yourself. When we overgive it can lead to resentment and bitterness when we don’t also receive, and this is when our upper back can begin to feel tight and restricted. Emotionally, there may be a sense of standing alone even when surrounded by people. The body may be drawing attention to a deeper need for recognition, or the courage to allow yourself to ask for, and receive support, rather than always providing it.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘The Delicate Balance of Giving and the Slow Burn of Resentment’

Lower back pain

“Fear for survival is often stored in the lower back.” - Evette Rose

The lower back relates closely to themes of safety, trust, and support, especially around practical areas like money which is so closely connected to our sense of stability, and survival in the world. Pain, injury, or even little tweaks in this area can sometimes reflect worries about security or a fear of not being supported by life or others. Emotionally, there may be a sense of bracing yourself, holding tension in preparation for what might go wrong. This is why so many people in the world experience lower back pain - because, ultimately, we’re all in survival mode in some way or another. Everything we do is born out of love, or out of fear, and when our lower back starts playing up, we are being reminded to open our hearts to receiving support, and leaning back into a more trusting relationship with life.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘Here's 3 Things I Recently Learned About Abundance’

Digestive issues

“The stomach digests not only food, but emotions.” - Michael J. Lincoln

Digestive issues are incredibly common and often reflect how we process life emotionally, not just physically. Depending on where the issues are, it can be narrowed down into different issues. If there’s bloating, stomach pain, or ongoing digestive sensitivity after eating, it can be linked with a lack of joy, or difficulty fully “digesting” experiences. The stomach is also where we feel nervous tension and fear, which is where the phrase ‘sick with nerves’ comes from. If the issues are deeper down into the large intenstine, there may be a tendency to hold things in, suppress feelings, or move on too quickly without allowing yourself to fully process what’s happened. This is often why we experience chronic constipation - it’s a fear of letting go and holding onto emotions that we don’t know how to release. Emotionally, the digestive system can mirror how safe it feels to receive, process, and release experiences at your own pace.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘Why Letting Go Is So Hard (And How to Support Yourself Through It)’

Skin conditions

“The skin shows us how safe we feel in the world.” - Evette Rose

The skin is the most fascinating organ, representing, quite literally, our boundary with the outside world - on both a physical as well as an emotional level. Our skin is about how we meet life, and how protected or exposed we feel within it. While conditions such as rashes, eczema, or acne are heavily linked to diet, they can also reflect heightened sensitivity, vulnerability, or unexpressed emotion sitting close to the surface - especially anger. This is perhaps why teenagers get so much acne, it’s the emotions as well as the hormones, flooding their systems. The skin can also relate to difficulty setting boundaries, feeling judged, or not feeling entirely safe to be seen as you are. When the skin reacts, the body may be gently highlighting a need for emotional protection, setting firmer boundaries with people around us, or developing a kinder relationship with yourself.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘How to Cope with Skin Conditions’

Chest tightness or breathing difficulties

“Grief compresses the chest and restricts the breath.” - Louise Hay

The chest holds our lungs and our heart, and tightness in this area, or difficulty breathing is often associated with an emotion that is being held onto. Like with the large intestine, the lungs are also the parts of our body that hold onto the past. Particularly grief, sadness, or emotional overwhelm, which can sit in our chests - both in our lungs as well as our heart. There can be a feeling of constriction, as though the heart or breath is being held back rather than allowed to move freely. Emotionally, this may reflect recent, or long-ago, experiences of loss, heartbreak, or situations where emotions haven’t been able to be fully expressed. When we experience pain, tension or tightness in this area, we’re being asked to seek the grief that we haven’t been able to process.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘How to Deal with Loss’

Fatigue or exhaustion

“Exhaustion comes from giving without replenishment.” - Evette Rose

Fatigue is one of those issues that nearly all of us struggle with on some level. I believe fatigue is highly linked to our modern environments which are incredibly overstimulating and overwhelming, as well as our diets and lifestyle that keep our energy so low. Ongoing fatigue, however, is rarely just about physical tiredness. It often develops when emotional energy has been slowly depleted over time, perhaps through over-giving, pushing beyond natural limits, or consistently placing the needs of others before your own. Emotionally, exhaustion and burnout can signal a quiet disconnection from yourself that’s been happening for quite some time, where rest, pleasure, or joy have been denied. Rather than something to fix or overcome, fatigue asks us to look at the energy drains in our life, and where we have been pushing ourselves too hard for too long.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘Struggling With Burnout? Here’s 5 Things You Need to Know’

Throat issues

“When we don’t speak our truth, the throat tightens.” - Louise Hay

Our throat is our center of truth and communication. Recurring throat issues, even thyroid issues, can be linked with unspoken truth and suppressed expression. Emotionally, this may feel like difficulty expressing what you really feel, a deep fear of conflict, or a habit of holding back to keep the peace, especially in the family dynamic or in toxic relationships. The throat is closely connected to authenticity, and so discomfort here can point to a gap between what feels like your inner truth and the outward expression of it. None of us need permission to express ourselves, though it is often the fear of external judgement and a driving need to protect ourselves that keeps us from speaking out and our voices being heard.

If this resonates, you might find it supportive to explore this a little further here: ‘The 3 Voices That Hold You Back (and How to Stop Listening)’

Emotional healing to release symptoms

If you want to dive into this deeper, there’s three books I highly recommend.

• Louise Hay’s ‘You Can Heal Your Life’

• Evette Rose’s ‘Metaphysical Anatomy’

• Michael j. Lincoln’s ‘Messages from the body’

If you have trouble processing and feeling your emotions, there are two specific energies you might in your Soul Contract that can help you make sense of why you deal with emotions the way that you do (and I have both of these specific energies which is why I love to write about them).

And if you need a little guidance and help to get to the bottom of your emotions, you might like to start with one of these short and simple guided healing processes that helps to bring emotions up to the surface to be felt.

If you’re ready to go deeper, you might like to explore deeper emotional healing sessions here.

With anything, the key to moving through it, whether it’s an uncomfortable symptom or a difficult emotion, is to have deep compassion for ourselves. When we judge ourselves, thinking that ‘I should know better’ or ‘I should be able to get over this’, or anything else, we lock ourselves into a rigidness that actually hinders our growth and healing.

When we allow ourselves to soften, we begin to move toward greater acceptance of who we are. From there, we can embrace ourselves fully, before we can finally lean into the greatest love story of all: the love we hold for ourselves. This is the true path to healing.

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Further Support & Resources

If you’re navigating emotional challenges or feeling weighed down by old patterns, here are a few gentle ways to support yourself:

• Discover your Soul Contract
  Gain insight into the hidden patterns shaping your reality, and understand why certain emotional themes keep repeating in your life.

• Join a group healing session (free)
  Experience a shared, guided space for emotional release and support, and connect with others on a similar path.

• Explore Divine Healing sessions
  Work one-to-one to release emotional patterns, trauma, and limiting beliefs, so you can feel more at home in who you are.

• Stay connected
  Join my newsletter for monthly updates alongside the latest insights from the blog.

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Carry on exploring