Almost every disease can be linked to emotional stress or trauma. When people have a high ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences Score) Score, their risk of almost

Almost every disease can be linked to emotional stress or trauma. When people have a high ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences Score) Score, their risk of almost every adult illness goes up a lot. That's because childhood trauma causes epigenetic changes that affect inflammation, immune function, etc. A heart attack can be triggered by stress. But you don't go up to someone who's had a heart attack and say, "Just relax -- it's just stress." Stress may have been the spark but once the fire is lit it burns all on its own. Similarly with a lot of bodily ailments, once a system is compromised then "relaxing" might not be enough to fix it. As someone with CFS, what we don't like is when people imply or just say that it's "not real," "not that bad," "all in our heads," etc. Often laypersons become armchair diagnosticians, tell you that you're 'stressed,' and then assume that knowledge will fix the problem. But, just like the patient who's had a heart attack, the problem is a lot bigger now, and the interventions required are a lot more difficult than "just relax."