Joanne Smith explains how self-criticism amplifies pain: the brain regions that process emotional self-talk and physical pain overlap, so blaming yourself for symptoms actually makes them worse. Self-compassion and professional support can help break the cycle.
It is really challenging, but you've got to let yourself off the hook here. You don't want to be getting in your own way unintentionally, because self-blame is something that I also wanted to mention, like, oh, I must be doing this wrong, I'm not like doing it right, or I'm not working hard enough, or I'm not doing any of these things, because it's not your fault. It's not, it's— It's not your fault. It's not good to blame yourself for having symptoms or having issues or pains or anything like that, because again, that raises the perception of there is a real threat, there's a real danger. Like, Jo's giving herself a hard time, she's being cruel on herself. And the brain, the way the brain works is that Even that self-talk, it can— it's the same part of the brain that handles the emotions as to physical symptoms and pain. So that part of the brain can generate the symptoms just purely by those thoughts coming in, like self-criticism. And these things like this, so actually, please know that you can get better and it starts with the clarity. So definitely advise you to speak to somebody, whether that's me or another person.
