Psychology Today | 16.09.2026 04:11
To live with chronic illness is to have frequent and extended experiences of not feeling safe. Managing this felt lack of safety necessitates the expenditure of a significant amount of psychic energy. We become highly attuned to our bodies, monitoring our health closely. We associate certain activities with symptom improvement (e.g., heating pad, rest) and others with symptom exacerbation (e.g., eating certain foods, disrupted sleep). We learn to “read” our bodies in order to make decisions about what we need to do — and avoid — to stay as healthy as possible.
