#114: Dr. Sula Windgassen - Tending to Chronic Illness
Our guest this time is Dr. Sula Windgassen. Having experienced recurring UTIs and chronic pain in her early twenties, she felt a strong urge to learn more about human health and, in particular, women’s health, which is significantly under-researched. Since she made this conscious decision, she has become a health psychologist, cognitive behavioural therapist, EMDR therapist, and mindfulness teacher with over 10 years of experience working with people who have chronic illness in the NHS, academia, and private practice. She is one of the wisest voices on the internet when it comes to mental and physical health and is a much-needed figure in a world filled with health misinformation, oversimplifications, and massive extrapolations from the truth. I invited Sula to the podcast to talk about a range of topics related to mental health, physical health, and wellness. She knows all too well what many chronic sufferers are going through. The big motive behind her work is to prevent people with health issues from feeling as isolated and unheard as she did, and a key aspect of her success (in my opinion) is that she doesn’t necessarily push the practices and tools that helped her recover from her health issues onto her patients. She knows that just because things worked for her, it doesn't mean that they will work for you, and this is rare in the world of health and wellness. In this podcast, we cover a lot. We hear about the profound role EMDR has played in influencing Sula’s understanding of recovery, and we break down the common myth that certain physical health symptoms are all in your head, or that it’s all trauma, or that it’s all your nervous system. We unpack how the market and targeted online marketing are taking advantage of the eroding trust people have in public healthcare and the dangers attached to this. We talk about the healing power of being with our difficult emotions. We also discuss the role of connection and feeling heard on the road to recovery as well as the nuances around the benefits of mental imagery (see show notes for the referenced studies). If you want more from Sula, please see the links below.
https://www.healthpsychologist.co.uk/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4974856/
https://www.instagram.com/the_health_psychologist_/?hl=en
