Is Your Physical and Mental Health Preventing You From Living a Fulfilling Life?
- You are experiencing dis-ease in your body.
- You feel stressed all the time.
- You are exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally.
- You have trouble remembering where you put things or difficulty finding your words.
- You are experiencing sensitivities or food allergies.
- You experience digestive issues, such as gas, bloating, or heartburn.
- Your moods all over the place.
- You cry easily and don’t know why.
- You get angry, lose your temper, and have less tolerance for people.
- You are pre- or post-menopausal.
- You are experiencing weight gain.
- You aren’t getting adequate sleep and feel exhausted when you wake up.
- You have an autoimmune disorder.
- You experience shooting pain, sore muscles, or muscle wasting.
- Your physical and mental ill health is preventing you from connecting with people, engaging in meaningful relationships, and living the life you want to live.
If you relate with some of these experiences, your body is trying to let you know something is out of balance. You may be experiencing adrenal fatigue or hormone imbalances, which are showing up as dis-ease in the body.
Getting Your Life Back
You may be wondering why working with a psychologist would help with your physical ill health? I am not a medical physician, but I can support your understanding about how excessive stress, fear, and worry affect your adrenals. Oftentimes, a physician will want to work on one symptom as the cause of ill health and prescribe medication, but they are not assessing you holistically – mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I specialize in mind-body psychotherapy that allows you to connect with your body’s physical ill health and uncover the nature of its imbalance. Along with your medical physician, naturopathic doctor, or nutritionist, we can work together to support the healing of your physical and mental ill health.
Having experienced my own ill health similar to those listed above, I have researched and read a number of articles and books that have helped me regain physical health and mental clarity. Through my experiences and knowledge, I can support you to manage your stress and provide you with resources and tools to bring clarity, understanding, and healing. I don’t want you to suffer any longer. I know it can be hard to reach out and ask for help and I am grateful you are seeking support. You do not have to constantly struggle with physical and mental ill health. You can learn how to bring back balance and live a healthier life.
Understanding Your Adrenals and Its Effects
Adrenals are glands that sit on top of your kidneys. Their role is to counteract stress by regulating the release of the hormone cortisol in your body. Stress can be physical, mental, emotional, or trauma-based. When someone experiences an emotional stress, this can impact the adrenals a 1,000 times more than physical stress, which is why people often experience health issues after the loss of a loved one. When you are 18-years-old your cortisol levels are at their lowest, and when you are 50-years-old and in menopause, cortisol levels are at their highest. Women with high levels of stress start to create a hanging layer of belly fat because excess cortisol stores fat in the belly.
Stress is cumulative – everything stressful that has ever happened to you since birth impacts your adrenals and cortisol levels. Cumulative stress can impact the body in several ways. It can impact your brain and cognitive function, by increasing excessive thinking. You may experience constant racing thoughts that you can’t turn off because you are constantly trying to problem solve and survive in your environment. Your brain is always “on” and this starts to affect your focus and memory because your thoughts are coming from several directions at once as opposed to a linear fashion. You may walk into a room and forget why you were there. It can decrease your level of tolerance for incompetent people or people who make mistakes. You may catch yourself yelling at drivers who cut you off.
Excessive stress can affect your quality of sleep. You may not be able to wind down easily and have difficulty falling asleep or you may wake up in the middle of the night feeling fully awake. You lose sodium from adrenal stress, so you will crave salt in the form of potato chips. You may notice difficulty getting up from a seated position, knee pain, or you may get winded from climbing a set of stairs. This is because the excess cortisol will eat away at your thigh muscles causing them to shrink and putting more pressure on your knees. It will affect the anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy response in your body resulting in chronic pain, fibromyalgia, arthritis, food sensitivities, and food allergies. Loss of acid can result in increased heartburn and acid reflux. All these can leave you feeling mentally, emotionally, and physically tired, exhausted, and overwhelmed.
Mind-Body Therapy Can Help You Feel More at Ease and in Control of Your Life
Making sure you feel safe is of utmost importance to me. Speaking about your physical and mental ill health with someone you don’t know can be overwhelming. I have created a calm and inviting space where you can feel free to openly and honestly share whatever you need to without fear of judgment. I provide an accepting environment regardless of your sexual orientation, gender, culture, or spiritual beliefs.
During sessions, we will explore the symptoms that are creating physical and mental ill health in your mind and body. We will discuss how stress manifests in your life – work, relationships, family, etc. This will give me a greater understanding of where you may be struggling so I can create a treatment plan to decrease stress mentally, physically, and emotionally. I will help you develop effective strategies, tools, and techniques to use to decrease stress in your life and create new healthy habits for your mental and physical well-being. Through mindfulness techniques, I will help you to ease your excessive thinking, help you to stay present in the here and now, and help you to gain back focus and clarity, which will bring you greater peace and assurance when dealing with life’s challenges and daily stressors.
Once you start to implement the strategies and address the areas in your life that are causing you discomfort, stress-related symptoms may begin to diminish – sometimes quickly, depending on severity, and other times, subsiding over time. Therapy can help you learn how to manage your stress instead of it running and controlling you. Helping you to become more mindful of excessive thinking and negative self-talk and how it affects your physiology, will support the creation of new healthy thoughts making events and interactions you are normally stressed about less intimidating.
You may be ready for change, but still have some questions and concerns about therapy for physical ill health…
No One Could Possibly Understand How This Feels – Even I Don’t Understand It
Identifying the stressors in your life is essential to understanding how they are manifesting in your physical body. If you can’t figure out why you are experiencing a number of stressors, and what appears to be unrelated physical ill health, how could a therapist do so? Working with an experienced therapist that is familiar with uncovering and explaining these stressors can be invaluable. There are always reasons why someone experiences stress and identifying how you react mentally, emotionally, and physically to stress can be the first step toward healing.
Shouldn’t I Just See My Family Physician for the Symptoms I Am Experiencing?
It is always important to seek medical advice from your family physician, naturopathic doctor, or nutritionist and I wholeheartedly support you doing so. However, more than likely, these individuals will be treating each symptom separately and not recognize how stress and increased cortisol are impacting your whole being. With my vast medical knowledge and expertise in mind-body psychotherapy, I will support you to regain balance mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
Isn’t Physical Ill Health Just a Fact of Getting Older?
No, this does not have to be the case. Understanding how you are being affected by stressors and how they are impacting your physical and mental ill health is key. You always have a choice and the ability to regain control over your health. Give yourself permission to explore and assess how you are living your life. I will provide a supportive space for this exploration and provide you with effective knowledge, strategies, tools, and techniques to help you regain your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
You too can reduce stress and experience increased physical, mental, and emotional health.
“Vicky has an extensive knowledge base and many effective tools to incorporate into her practice. When combined with her caring and compassionate manner, she is a fabulous psychologist. I would recommend Vicky for anyone seeking help!!”
Tammy Kremer, Certified Yoga Therapist
Contact me at 403-891-1384 for a free 15-minute consultation or to set up an appointment.
Vicky Roubekas, MACP is a Registered Psychologist and currently owns a private practice in Calgary, AB. She specializes in anxiety, PTSD/trauma, and women’s health. Vicky is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), is a Certified Hakomi Therapist, a Certified Embodied Awareness Facilitator, and has a Creative Expression Specialization from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Vicky is also a Peruvian Shaman Practitioner and Reiki Master. To find out more about Vicky click here: Vicky Roubekas Psychology
Vicky Roubekas Psychology 