PART 2: The Hidden Link Between Highly Sensitive People and Autoimmune Disorders
Written by Carla M. Sodi
INTRODUCTION
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that up to 23.5 million people just in America suffer from autoimmune disease, and that the prevalence is rising. Researchers have identified 80-100 different autoimmune diseases and suspect at least 40 additional diseases of having an autoimmune basis. These diseases are chronic and can be life-threatening. My work, with so many clients that suffer from autoimmune disorders, has demonstrated that they are highly sensitive. Coined by Dr. Elaine N. Aron, a “Highly Sensitive Person” has the innate trait of high sensory processing sensitivity. They process the environment in deep ways that easily over-arouse them, affecting multiple areas of their lives.
Over and over, in almost every case, one of the core beliefs behind autoimmune illnesses or related symptoms on these highly sensitive people is the fear of not feeling safe.
THE HIDDEN LINK
Most of the people with autoimmune disorders don´t realize they are highly sensitive. In fact, none of the highly sensitive persons I have worked with have related their symptoms such as asthma, colitis, allergies, skin disorders, eczema, anxiety, rash, etc. to an autoimmune response from the body.
When we feel we are not safe it is just impossible to communicate who we are in an effective way, where we will be seen and heard, loved and accepted. We create automatic blind spots that block our natural flow of energy and good health. If we don’t feel safe enough to be who we are and aren’t able to express it, then we won’t be able to build our self-esteem and grow in confidence to thrive physically in the world. Without that energy of safety, we hide and stay quiet in our inner world, unable to feel confident or to make clear decisions about our lives and our future, because we are trying to protect ourselves and feel secure in some way.
Relaxing is difficult because it is hard to let things go easily. Everything takes a lot of effort, and as a result stress leaves the body exhausted and depleted, the immune system overwhelmed, the inside signals confused and malfunctioning, to the point of sending a massive attack to every unwanted invader in the body.
Feeling insecure about our own body, without trusting it, creates the belief that our safety is threatened, that we are vulnerable and can’t protect ourselves, and as a consequence we see the world as something that is always assaulting us. This unwittingly sends an alarm message to the immune system, which becomes super vigilant and permanently on guard. As a result, it is constantly being asked to defend and protect us against our own body as a perceived threat, which isn’t in fact harmful at all.
When we feel safe enough deep healing occurs, because we can confidently explore who we really are and solve the events and emotions that trigger the symptoms or illnesses in our life. When we value ourselves, we value finding a place or places where we feel safe energetically and emotionally.
Highly sensitive people very often feel something is wrong with them, because they have been frequently told, “you’re too sensitive”, “so intense”, “so emotional”, until they start to believe that there is something seriously wrong with them, and as a result they stop trusting themselves. They don’t trust their body, thoughts, or feelings, and therefore they don’t feel safe in their own skin.
The best way to discover these problems is to understand that something may have happened in the past that produced high stress and triggered the illness. Sometimes it may simply be one major event that was very traumatic for us at a specific time, and that overwhelmed our emotions. For example, a divorce, loss of a job, loss of a friend or relative, financial struggle… it can be any situation that leaves us feeling unsafe, unprotected, unable to respond and confront the event.
Here are some questions to start exploring the belief of not feeling safe:
Do you self-sabotage your health? Your relationships? Or sacrifice some other area of your life in order to balance out the emotions and feel safe hiding your deepest needs?
Do you feel safe expressing who you truly are?
What did your family say and feel about your being a highly sensitive person?
How do you feel about that?
Did your family make you feel secure?
One of the core keys for healing an autoimmune disorder in a highly sensitive person is helping them to feel safe. Feeling safe is critical to our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. It help us to relax, and express our deepest feelings.
EFT is a powerful tool that helps us to gently look inside us and dissolve the specific events that could have resulted in taking on the belief that we are unsafe and cannot protect ourselves. If you are working with someone who is highly sensitive and has an autoimmune illness, or you have one yourself, start with the, “I am not safe in my body” statement to start building trust in yourself and the innate wisdom of your body to heal.
Example: Even though I don’t feel safe in my body I love and accept myself.
Even though I can’t trust my body because it’s attacking me, I accept what is happening inside me.
CONCLUSIONS
More and more autoimmune diseases have showed up in the past years as a result of a malfunction of the immune system and a stressed healing ability. Specialists are generally unaware of interrelationships among the different autoimmune diseases or advances in treatment outside their own specialty area. It is important to be aware that highly sensitive persons have a nervous system more sensitive to their surroundings. Because of its sensitive nature, they are more easily over-stimulated, stressed out and overwhelmed than others. Feeling unsafe in their body or environment, in many cases, pushes their body into an alarm situation and eventually triggers hypersensitivity of the immune system far more than the rest of the population.
