When the Body Fights Itself: The Hidden Link Between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Trauma
As a naturopath and trauma-informed emotional healing practitioner, I’ve seen how often the body tells the truth of what the heart has carried. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) — an autoimmune condition where the body’s defence system mistakenly attacks its own joints, leading to chronic inflammation, stiffness, and pain.
RA affects around 1% of the global population, with women being two to three times more likely to develop the condition than men. It usually appears between the ages of 30 and 60 — often during times of emotional transition, stress, or loss. The condition is characterised by persistent inflammation, which primarily affects the small joints of the hands, wrists, and feet, though it can also impact the eyes, skin, lungs, and heart.
While genetics and environmental triggers like smoking or viral infections play a role, clinical experience — and an increasing body of research — shows that chronic stress and trauma significantly influence both the onset and progression of autoimmune disease, including RA.
The Body’s Cry for Balance
The immune system’s purpose is to protect — but in autoimmunity, it becomes confused, seeing self-tissue as a threat. From a trauma-informed perspective, this mirrors an inner conflict: the body acting out a pattern of self-attack, often rooted in unresolved emotional pain.
In my clinical practice, I’ve observed that many clients with RA are deeply caring, capable, and conscientious people. They’re often the ones who “keep everything together” — managing family, work, and others’ needs — while silently holding their own pain.
One woman came to me with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis. She described feeling “stuck” in life and in her body — her hands and wrists swollen and painful, her energy depleted. As we explored her story, she recognised a lifelong belief that showing anger or saying “no” made her selfish. Instead, she internalised conflict, always turning blame inward. Her body, quite literally, was expressing the tension she couldn’t voice.
As we worked with these subconscious patterns through Family Constellations, Rapid Core Healing, and naturopathic support, her symptoms began to soften. Her pain reduced, her mobility improved, and she described feeling emotionally lighter — as though her body had finally been heard.
Trauma, the Subconscious, and Inflammation
To understand how trauma contributes to conditions like RA, we must look beyond the conscious mind. Trauma isn’t just what happened to us — it’s what remains unprocessed within us. These experiences are stored in the subconscious, shaping our sense of safety, identity, and self-worth.
Chronic emotional stress activates the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, flooding the body with cortisol and adrenaline. Over time, this stress response weakens immune regulation and fuels systemic inflammation. When trauma remains unhealed, the immune system stays on alert, searching for threats that no longer exist.
In this heightened state, the body can begin to perceive its own tissues as dangerous — mirroring an internalised message of “I am not safe in myself.”
Family Constellations: Seeing the Emotional Blueprint
Family Constellations is a therapeutic process that reveals how unresolved family trauma and emotional entanglements can unconsciously shape our health. In cases of rheumatoid arthritis, I often see inherited patterns of self-sacrifice, guilt, or loyalty to suffering.
For example, a client may unconsciously carry a mother’s burden of responsibility, or a grandparent’s grief. These hidden loyalties can manifest in the body as chronic tension, rigidity, or pain — the body’s way of staying connected to an unresolved family story.
I once worked with a woman whose RA had flared severely after the death of a sibling. In her constellation, it became clear that her body was holding unspoken guilt — a belief that she had survived when another did not. Once this dynamic was brought into awareness and acknowledged, she experienced a profound release. Her pain levels decreased, and she began to describe feeling “freer in her skin.”
Family Constellations works systemically, allowing us to see the larger field we belong to and to release unconscious identification with pain or loss. But to transform these patterns at the root level, we must go deeper — into the subconscious mind itself.
Rapid Core Healing: Reprogramming the Subconscious
Rapid Core Healing (RCH) is a powerful method that combines Family Constellations principles with Emotional Mind Integration to address trauma at its source.
While hypnotherapy can access the subconscious, it often works through positive suggestion — offering new beliefs without resolving the old. Rapid Core Healing goes further: it’s interactive, allowing clients to safely revisit and heal the moment a painful belief or emotional imprint was formed.
For instance, someone with rheumatoid arthritis may subconsciously hold the message “I have to hold everything together” or “I’m not allowed to be angry.” Through RCH, we can revisit the original experience where that belief began, meeting it with compassion and adult awareness. This process re-patterns the nervous system, transforming self-directed tension into inner safety.
Neuroscience confirms what we see in practice: the brain is neuroplastic, constantly reshaping in response to new experiences. By working at the subconscious level, RCH helps the mind and body create new internal reference points for calm and safety, essential for reducing inflammation and restoring immune balance.
Supporting Healing Through Naturopathic Medicine
Emotional healing provides the foundation, but the body also needs physical support to repair tissue, reduce inflammation, and restore vitality. In naturopathic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, I focus on:
Anti-inflammatory nutrition: emphasising whole, plant-rich foods, omega-3s (particularly from Ahiflower®), turmeric, and ginger to reduce systemic inflammation.
Gut and microbiome health: addressing leaky gut, dysbiosis, and food sensitivities, as intestinal permeability is strongly linked to autoimmune inflammation.
Nervous system and stress repair: using magnesium, adaptogens (such as ashwagandha or holy basil), and lifestyle tools to regulate the stress response.
Joint and connective tissue support: nutrients like zinc, selenium, vitamin C, and antioxidants to aid repair and slow inflammatory damage.
When naturopathic medicine is combined with subconscious healing, clients often experience deeper, longer-lasting results — not just symptom relief, but transformation of the inner conditions that allowed illness to arise.
From Self-Protection to Self-Compassion
Rheumatoid arthritis invites us to listen deeply to the body. The inflammation, pain, and rigidity are not signs of betrayal — they’re the body’s way of saying, “Something within me needs care.”
Through Family Constellations, Rapid Core Healing, and naturopathic care, we can begin to understand the message beneath the symptoms. When the nervous system learns that it’s safe to let go, the immune system follows — shifting from defence to repair.
Healing RA is not about fighting the body. It’s about rebuilding trust with it — recognising that beneath the pain is a profound wisdom calling us back to balance, softness, and self-compassion.
About the Author
Camilla Brinkworth is the founder of Camilla Clare Holistic Health. She is a naturopath, nutritionist, and trauma-informed emotional healing practitioner based in Bali, but supporting clients globally. Drawing on her extensive background in Family Constellations, Rapid Core Healing, and naturopathic medicine and nutrition, Camilla supports clients in addressing both the physical and emotional roots of illness.
Her integrative approach combines science, emotional healing, and plant-based medicine to help people restore balance to their hormones, immune system, and nervous system. Through her one-to-one sessions, retreats, and educational programmes, Camilla guides others to move beyond survival, reconnect with their innate vitality, and create lasting wellbeing from the inside out.