Chronic Stress: The Cost of Repressing Your Feelings & Needs (Pt. 2)

Welcome to Healing the Hungry Ghost! 🪷 I’m Summer, a trauma therapist exploring the roots of stress, disconnection, and emotional suffering — and what it truly means to heal.

(Quick note: There’s a small rendering glitch in the last 30 seconds that causes a weird transition between clips — thanks for rolling with it!)

As a therapist who specializes in chronic stress and trauma, this topic is personally and professionally important to me. If there’s one thing I wish more people knew about, it’s what chronic stress does to us—and where it really comes from.

In this deep dive, we’ll explore the root causes of chronic stress, focusing on the social conditioning that quietly trains us to normalize and carry stress every day. Then, we’ll look at just how far-reaching the effects of chronic stress really are—not only on mental health, but on physical health and disease.

By the end of this video (and this series), I hope it’s clear that the separation between mental and physical health is an illusion. Our minds and bodies are deeply connected, and healing one means healing the other.

🔄 This is Part 2 of a 2-part mini-series on chronic stress. If you missed Part 1, be sure to check it out for a foundational understanding of what chronic stress is and why it’s become so widespread.

Timestamps⏱️
00:00 The Most Influential Aspect of Social Conditioning on Our Health
01:12 Discipline-Centered Parenting
03:16 Growing Up Neurodivergent in Our Society
05:09 Chronic Stress due to Chronic Emotional Suppression
07:23 Emotional Suppression & Learned Helplessness
08:18 How Emotional Numbing Affects Us
09:55 How Emotional Suppression Affects our Physical Health
11:16 Common Physical Illnesses Linked to Chronic Stress
15:37 The Purpose of Sharing this Research
16:43 Acceptance Does Not Make Us Helpless
17:11 What Does Healing from Chronic Stress Entail?
18:06 The 2 Things You Need to Know to Develop Emotional Competence