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Emotional Stress Can Trigger Physical Pain — Here’s How To Fix It
Imagine waking up one morning with debilitating back pain, only to be told you may never exercise again, lift anything over ten pounds, or even have biological children. That was the reality for Nicole Sachs, LCSW, at just 19 years old, when she was diagnosed with degenerative spondylolisthesis.
Her prognosis was grim—until she came across the pioneering work of John Sarno, M.D., a physician famous for linking chronic pain to emotional repression and the nervous system.
Through this mind-body approach, Sachs not only healed herself completely but went on to help thousands do the same, becoming a psychotherapist, speaker, and expert in chronic pain recovery.
Today, she is one of the leading voices in mind-body medicine, blending neuroscience, psychology, and emotional work to help people resolve their symptoms without medication or surgery.
In our podcast conversation, Sachs broke down the science behind chronic pain, the role of fear, and how emotional regulation is just as important as diet, sleep, and exercise.
The power of fear & meaning in chronic pain
Sachs argues that chronic pain is not just a physical issue but an "epidemic born of fear and meaning." She compares pain to a fire alarm—if you focus only on silencing the alarm, you miss the actual fire. In other words, pain is a symptom, not the root cause.
While many people are dismissed by the medical system as imagining their symptoms, Sachs emphasizes that pain is not in your head—but the solution is not solely in your body either.
Pain, she explains, is a protective mechanism. The nervous system’s primary job is survival. If it perceives unresolved emotional distress as a threat, it may manifest physical pain as a way to protect you from deeper psychological discomfort. This explains why pain often appears or intensifies in times of stress, anxiety, or trauma.
The mind-body connection: What the science says
The idea that emotions can create physical symptoms is widely accepted in everyday life. Stress can cause headaches, nervousness can lead to stomach pain, and sadness can bring tears. Sachs teaches that these mind-body reactions extend further than most people realize.
A Harvard study by Michael Donnino, MD on long COVID patients supports this. The control group received standard medical treatments, while the experimental group learned mind-body expression techniques, emotional regulation, and brain science education.
The results were statistically significant—those who addressed their nervous system dysregulation saw an improvement in symptoms. This study revealed that when people acknowledge and process their emotions, their pain often diminishes or disappears.
The emotional reservoir & its role in pain
Sachs describes the concept of an “emotional reservoir,” which fills up with stressors from three key sources:
- Childhood experiences: Early trauma, big or small, shapes how we perceive threats.
- Daily life stressors: Work, relationships, financial strain, body image—anything that adds to emotional tension.
- Personality traits: Perfectionism, people-pleasing, self-criticism, and codependency create additional pressure.
When the emotional reservoir overflows, the nervous system enters a fight-or-flight state, often triggering chronic pain as a warning signal.
Sachs’ flagship healing tool
To release stored emotions, Sachs developed a practice called JournalSpeak, a form of expressive writing that helps clear out the emotional reservoir. The method is simple but effective:
- Write freely for 20 minutes about anything causing stress, fear, or buried emotions.
- Allow yourself complete honesty—no filtering, no worrying about how it sounds. You throw away what you’ve written afterward.
- Follow with a 10-minute meditation to reset the nervous system.
This daily practice serves as an emotional “release valve,” preventing pain from manifesting in the body.
The power of language & belief
Sachs emphasizes that the way we talk to ourselves shapes our experience of pain. The words we use, both internally and externally, have power. Affirmations can be helpful, but only if they feel true.
Instead of forcing positivity, Sachs encourages people to start by acknowledging their current state with honesty and self-compassion.
Confidence, she explains, comes from agency—the realization that you have more power over your physical and emotional health than you think. Anxiety, pain, and other symptoms are not forces that control you; they are experiences that can shift when you approach them with curiosity instead of fear.
The takeaway
Healing from chronic pain is not about ignoring symptoms or dismissing medical conditions. It’s about understanding the body’s signals and addressing the underlying emotional factors that contribute to pain.
Sachs encourages anyone struggling with chronic conditions to shift from skepticism to curiosity—because true healing begins when we stop fearing our pain and start listening to what it’s trying to tell us.
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