Did you know that there is a connection between early childhood trauma, stress, and susceptibility to autoimmune diseases? Lifestyle habits and chronic stress also affect the risk of these diseases. Our journey toward health has taught us that understanding emotions and working on them is crucial. Addressing our emotions and the burdens we both carried was a breakthrough for our health. This is why we strongly encourage a holistic approach to treatment, considering both the physical and emotional aspects of health.
The Impact of Stress and Trauma on the Development or Worsening of Thyroid Diseases
Renowned neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, known for his work on stress, emphasizes that chronic stress can lead to many health problems, including autoimmune diseases. Sapolsky explains that stress primarily affects the immune system through hormonal mechanisms, particularly through the action of glucocorticoids (such as cortisol). Prolonged elevation of these hormones can weaken the immune system and increase the risk of developing autoimmune diseases.
Gabor Maté, a doctor and prominent researcher, also discusses the link between stress, trauma, and health. In his books, Maté points out that emotional and psychological traumas experienced in childhood can lead to chronic stress, which influences the development of various diseases, including autoimmune disorders. More and more people are researching this topic, and psychotherapists confirm this theory, highlighting the long-term impact of trauma and stress on both mental and physical health.
A groundbreaking study conducted in 1998 by Vincent J. Felitti and Robert F. Anda, known as The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, aimed to analyze the impact of negative childhood experiences on adult health. Over 17,000 people from 267 Kaiser Permanente medical centers participated. The results of this groundbreaking study were surprising. It was found that people with high ACE scores had a significantly increased risk of developing various chronic diseases in adulthood, including heart disease, cancer, lung disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. Each point increase in the ACE score raised the risk of autoimmune diseases by 20%. The study clearly showed that childhood trauma has a long-lasting impact on both physical and mental health. High ACE scores were associated with a higher risk of chronic disease development.
How Your Emotional Well-Being Affects Your Health
When we started our project, our goal was to help and educate people with thyroid diseases in a simple and understandable way. We wanted to change the approach to this disease so that people could take control of their health and enjoy life. (...) We wanted to show women that their experience with the disease might have started much earlier. To gather more data, we conducted a survey and invited nearly three thousand women to participate. Before launching our workshops, we wrote newsletters and managed social media, which allowed us to reach thousands of followers.
The survey results revealed a familiar pattern. Over 90% of women indicated that before the onset of the disease, they had experienced difficult life events that could have triggered Hashimoto's disease. Another survey focused on personality traits—the entire current chapter is dedicated to these correlations. Thousands of women attended our emotional workshops, and thousands more sent us thank-you notes for helping them improve their well-being.
It turned out that the workshops changed their perception of the disease. When our participants began focusing on themselves on this level, the healing process became more effective and surprising.
So now, focus and read this text carefully. If you find even one element that could guide you, you can already consider it half a success. And if you take care of it and put in the effort, you'll soon feel the results in the form of better well-being.
As you already know, Hashimoto's disease is a condition that can have a genetic basis, but this does not automatically mean it will be in an active phase. However, many factors can influence its development, including hormonal and environmental factors. The role of emotional stress and past traumatic experiences in autoimmune diseases is being increasingly recognized.
When we conducted our second survey, 90% of respondents identified with the following traits, behavioral patterns, and life events:
- A need for control, leading to excessive pressure on oneself and others
- Perfectionism
- Feeling overwhelmed by daily responsibilities
- Irritability and outbursts of anger
- A tendency to worry excessively
- Experiencing a highly stressful life event or prolonged stress
- A demanding and difficult childhood
- Self-criticism and criticism of others
- High sensitivity
- Frequent and excessive anxiety
- Emotional and physical exhaustion
When we analyzed these tests and talked to our followers, a picture emerged that aligned with our previous observations and experiences. Most women (though not all) suffering from Hashimoto's and thyroid diseases live hectic lives, under pressure, demanding a lot from themselves, and often caring for everyone else instead of themselves. What was key—many exhibited excessive control. When we invited a psychotherapist to a live session, she confirmed our suspicions. We coined the term "Hashimoto personality" for our purposes. While there's no clinical entity called "Hashimoto personality," we use this term as a shorthand for a set of personality traits such as perfectionism, excessive need for control, and a tendency to prioritize others' needs over one's own. This personality type is particularly common among our followers and forms the basis of our educational work.
Suppressing Emotions - The Shortest Path to Illness
We had already read that scientists identified certain thinking patterns that affect the development of psychosomatic diseases. In other words, there are certain personality traits shared by people struggling with specific types of illnesses. In the case of Hashimoto's disease, scientific literature primarily mentions traits such as sensitivity and highlights alexithymia. Alexithymia is the difficulty in recognizing, understanding, and expressing emotions. People with alexithymia may feel emotions but cannot name or describe them. They may also struggle to perceive the emotions of others.
People with alexithymia may have difficulties with:
- Understanding their feelings. They don't know what they feel or why.
- Expressing their feelings. They find it hard to talk about what they feel, both verbally and non-verbally.
- Recognizing the emotions of others. They don’t know what others feel and how to respond.
- Managing emotions. They may struggle to control emotions, leading to outbursts of anger, anxiety, or depression.
The causes of alexithymia are not fully understood. It may result from genetic factors, childhood trauma, or certain neurological conditions. Alexithymia is not a mental illness but can complicate daily life. People with alexithymia may have trouble forming relationships, coping with stress, and making decisions. They may also be more prone to depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic illnesses. Treatment for alexithymia typically includes psychotherapy. A therapist can help someone with alexithymia learn to recognize, understand, and express their emotions and develop coping mechanisms for difficult emotions.
Researchers' observations also align with the concept of the so-called "Chicago Seven," which is a list of diseases caused not only by genetic or biological predispositions but also by difficult emotions experienced by the patient. The "Chicago Seven" describes psychosomatic diseases strongly linked to psychological factors (psychosomatic diseases are physical conditions significantly influenced by psychological factors like stress, anxiety, and emotional tension). Over time, researchers expanded the original list of seven diseases, first compiled in 1950 by physician and psychoanalyst F.G. Alexander, to include autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto's. It has been acknowledged that in the case of autoimmune diseases, personality traits, particularly the inability to experience and express emotions combined with a tendency to somaticize emotions, play a key role in disease susceptibility.
