Discover the surprising connection between anxiety and digestive problems, from the gut-brain link to stress hormones, and learn how treating anxiety can restore digestive health.
Important: While the symptoms of anxiety are primarily mental and emotional, living with an anxiety disorder can affect every part of your body, including your digestion.
Have you ever heard someone say they were so nervous, their stomach was tied in a knot? Emotional and mental disorders like anxiety can have very real physical consequences.
Dr. Geoff Nugent and the rest of the mental health counseling experts at Nugent Family Counseling Center help patients living with problems like anxiety to address symptoms in every part of their bodies. If your stomach upset or digestive problems are really connected to your anxiety, we can work with you to improve your condition.
The Nugent Family Counseling Center team supports people living with anxiety from locations in:
San Jose, CA
Los Gatos, CA
Reno, NV
If other ways of repairing your digestive health have not been successful enough, could getting your anxiety under control be the solution you need?
There are lots of ways that your anxiety disorder can negatively impact your digestive health and wellness. Here are just a few.
Some people with anxiety experience otherwise-unexplained gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances like:
Stomach pain
Cramping
Constipation
The physiological stresses associated with anxiety, and the close connection between your stomach and your brain, can literally make you feel like your stomach's been tied in knots after an anxiety attack.
The Hormone Factor: When you have anxiety, your body releases the hormone cortisol.
This hormone can negatively impact your metabolism.
The long-term damage to your metabolism by an anxiety disorder can leave you struggling to balance your nutrition and digestive health.
The emotional stresses of anxiety can affect your food choices and behaviors, as well.
Anxiety might make you try to establish control over your life by restricting your food intake
Or, you might compulsively self-soothe with food in unhealthy ways
Both extremes of irregular eating can wreak havoc on your digestive wellness.
The good news is that anxiety often responds well to knowledgeable, experienced treatment.
The team at Nugent Family Counseling Center can help you better understand your anxiety. We work with you to develop a comprehensive treatment plan that you can have confidence in.
Depending on your unique needs, you could benefit from:
With approaches including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical-behavioral therapy (DBT)
Interpersonal support with group therapy
Like hypnosis and aromatherapy
Anxiety management with prescription medication
Microcurrent electrical therapy and neurofeedback, retraining your brain away from unhelpful anxious patterns
Innovative approaches to anxiety recovery
For the support you need to tame your anxiety and restore balance and regularity to your digestive health, get in touch with the mental health experts at Nugent Family Counseling Center.
You can schedule a consultation with one of our counselors by calling now, or schedule online today.
Address the root cause of your digestive problems by treating your anxiety
Anxiety doesn't just affect your mind—it causes real physical digestive problems through three mechanisms: the gut-brain connection (causing stomach pain, cramping, and constipation), cortisol-damaged metabolism (affecting nutrition balance), and disordered eating behaviors (restriction or compulsive overeating). Professional anxiety treatment combining CBT/DBT, group therapy, medication, alternative approaches, and advanced neurofeedback can help you regain control of both your mental health and digestive wellness.