A very real link exists between negative emotions and physical pain. In fact, many people suffering from untreated depression are unaware that painful physical symptoms can accompany their disorder and are indictors to seek help.
According to an international survey, people with major depressive disorder waited almost a year on average to go to the doctor and were only diagnosed with depression after five visits -- which further postponed treatment. Moreover, nearly 75 percent of those involved in the survey didn't believe their physical pains, such as:
... were symptoms of depression. Such unawareness is a serious health threat, as the longer a depressed person goes untreated, the more their condition can escalate and the harder it will be for recovery.
Survey Details
The survey was conducted by an independent market research company and involved 377 individuals with depression, 375 general practitioners and 381 psychiatrists in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Germany and France.
The goal of the survey was to measure awareness of the projected association between depression and painful physical symptoms among people with depression, and among physicians, to identify potential diagnosis and gaps in treatment.
Among the Results ...
A major gap was found between high occurrence and low awareness of painful physical symptoms among those suffering from depression.
As for physicians, only 38 percent recognized the connection between physical aches and pains and symptoms of depression always or most of the time.
And, 77 percent agreed that lack of treatment for physical aches and pains boosts the risk of relapse.
Science Daily May 27, 2005
Gary Craig's Comment:
EFT is likely to prove quite useful here because it addresses both depression and physical problems.
It should come as no surprise that the negative emotions associated with depression tend to generate many physical ailments. This is intuitively common sense and I've seen this repeatedly over the years.
Interestingly, I've never seen drugs actually cure depression. They can temporarily mask the symptoms, of course, but that is not a cure. On the contrary, their side effects can actually contribute to the physical problems mentioned in this article.
The EFT Web site has an entire section on depression containing many EFT cases where depression is either controlled or eliminated. No drugs involved. One of those articles contains the following contrast:
" ... . the treatment of depression by conventionally accepted means falls somewhat short of perfection. Cures or complete cessation of the problem are not exactly commonplace. Interestingly, with EFT we have many people whose symptoms just vanish."
Further, as the depression symptoms abate, so do numerous physical ailments.