One of my specialties is working with patients with autoimmune disorders. What does a psychologist have to do with autoimmune disorders? A ton, and in ways we’re only just beginning to understand.
If you have an autoimmune disorder, this is in no way news to you. You’ve lived through the anxiety of not knowing what the issue is prior to being diagnosed, adjusting to the diagnosis once it’s been made (and then changed, or when other diagnoses are added), the stress of navigating healthcare systems that might not understand, and all the feelings that come with living with a chronic invisible illness that can shape all or part of your life. Therapy can be helpful with the adjustments, coming to terms with it, and figuring out how to still be you and not let the disorder run your life.
Autoimmune disorders can be activated when you go through traumatic events or endure prolonged stressful situations, really anything that puts your immune system in hyperdrive (including just having two X chromosomes, who knew?). So, chances are, you already need to talk to someone.
But also, management of symptoms/flares once the disorder is activated is partially related to the experience of stress because of how it creates inflammation in the body through the “fight or flight” stress response system. Therefore, management of stress is crucial to learning to live with autoimmune disorders. Psychotherapy has actually been shown to reduce frequency of symptoms, increase quality of life, decrease depression, and decrease anxiety in a 2019 randomized control trial.
While I don’t like autoimmune disorders, I am very much excited about some of the research coming out. For instance, how depression might have evolved to protect us and others when we are sick, meaning depression might have originally served the purpose of not spreading illness through changing out mood when we having inflammation in our bodies. Or that women might experience the vast majority of autoimmune diseases because of how we’re set up to protect ourselves and a baby during pregnancy (the pregnancy compensation hypothesis, see Radiolab podcast episode “The Unsilencing”).
While there is nothing currently that cures autoimmune disorders, research is accelerating. In the mean time, therapy can be an effective way to actually still enjoy your life. As a therapist, I might be biased, but the research isn’t.