When the Body Turns Inward: The Link Between Autoimmune Conditions and Trauma
As a naturopath and trauma-informed emotional healing practitioner, I’ve seen time and again how the body reflects what the heart has carried. Nowhere is this more evident than in autoimmune conditions — when the immune system, designed to protect us, begins attacking our own tissues.
Autoimmune diseases are among the most rapidly rising health issues worldwide. Conditions such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis all involve the immune system mistakenly identifying the body’s own cells as enemies. The symptoms can vary — fatigue, inflammation, pain, swelling, brain fog, or skin eruptions — but beneath these differences lies a common thread: a body struggling to distinguish self from threat.
In my practice, I’ve found that these conditions often have more than just biological triggers. They are frequently intertwined with emotional history — especially unresolved trauma, chronic stress, and inherited family patterns.
When the Body Says “No”
There’s a well-known phrase from physician Gabor Maté: “The body says no when we cannot.” This captures what I often witness in clinic. Many of my clients with autoimmune conditions are caring, conscientious people who have spent years suppressing emotion, pleasing others, or trying to hold everything together.
One woman came to me after years of thyroid issues. She was exhausted, anxious, and constantly pushing herself to meet everyone’s expectations. Through our sessions, she realised she’d learned as a child that love came from being “good” and never showing anger. Her body had become the voice for everything she couldn’t say aloud.
Once we began working on her emotional boundaries and resolving these early imprints, her symptoms began to ease — alongside the naturopathic support for her immune and thyroid health.
The immune system mirrors our inner environment. When a person has lived in survival mode — hypervigilant, overgiving, or self-sacrificing — the body can begin to respond as if the self itself is unsafe. In this way, autoimmunity can be seen as both a biological and emotional confusion: the body defending against what it perceives as a threat, even when that “threat” is one’s own tissue.
Trauma and the Subconscious
To understand this connection, we need to look beyond conscious awareness. Trauma isn’t only the events that happened to us — it’s the unprocessed stress that remains in the body. Much of this is stored in the subconscious mind, which shapes how we respond to life, stress, and even our sense of identity.
The subconscious carries our core beliefs — “I’m not safe,” “I must care for others to be loved,” “My needs don’t matter.” These programs form early in life, often before we have words. When unhealed, they can drive patterns of chronic stress and emotional suppression that eventually manifest physically.
That’s why true healing often requires more than supplements or diet (though those are essential foundations). We must work at the level where trauma lives — the subconscious and the nervous system.
Family Constellations: Healing at the Systemic Level
Family Constellations is one of the most profound methods I’ve found to uncover the hidden emotional dynamics that contribute to autoimmune conditions. This therapeutic process reveals how unresolved family trauma — such as grief, exclusion, or guilt — can unconsciously pass down through generations, shaping how we relate to ourselves and others.
In a constellation, we often see clients carrying burdens that aren’t truly theirs — perhaps a mother’s shame, a grandfather’s wartime trauma, or an ancestor’s unspoken loss. For someone with autoimmunity, this can translate into a deep inner conflict: an unconscious loyalty to suffering or self-punishment that mirrors an earlier story.
I once facilitated a constellation for a woman with long-term lupus. What emerged was an unacknowledged pattern of self-blame and grief connected to her family’s history of loss. Once these dynamics were brought into awareness and honoured, something shifted. She described feeling lighter — as though her body no longer needed to carry the pain alone.
Family Constellations works systemically, helping us see the larger field we belong to and bringing resolution to entangled emotional patterns. But to reprogram these patterns at the subconscious level, I often combine this work with Rapid Core Healing.
Rapid Core Healing: Working Directly with the Subconscious
Rapid Core Healing (RCH) is a therapeutic method that integrates Emotional Mind Integration and Family Constellations principles. It allows us to identify and transform the subconscious imprints driving chronic emotional and physiological stress.
While hypnotherapy can access the subconscious, it often relies on suggestion — guiding clients into relaxation and offering positive affirmations. Rapid Core Healing, by contrast, is interactive. It gently leads clients into a light trance where they can consciously meet and resolve the original moment a belief or trauma was formed.
Rather than simply layering new thoughts over old wounds, RCH allows for deep resolution and reintegration.
For example, a client with rheumatoid arthritis may carry an early memory of helplessness — a time when she couldn’t fight back or speak her truth. Through Rapid Core Healing, we can revisit that moment safely, allowing her adult self to meet the younger part with compassion and protection. This re-patterns the nervous system, shifting the core message from “I am powerless” to “I am safe and supported.”
Neuroscience confirms that our brains remain plastic throughout life — meaning every new experience reshapes neural pathways. By working at the subconscious level, Rapid Core Healing helps create new internal reference points for safety, worth, and calm — foundations essential for the immune system to repair and regulate.
Where Natural Medicine Supports Recovery
As a naturopath, I always address both mind and body. Trauma healing is most effective when the body feels nourished, grounded, and supported. For autoimmune recovery, I often include:
Anti-inflammatory nutrition: focusing on whole, plant-rich foods that calm systemic inflammation.
Gut and liver support: since immune regulation begins in the gut, addressing dysbiosis, leaky gut, or sluggish detoxification is key.
Nervous system nutrients: magnesium, omega-3s (especially from Ahiflower®), and B vitamins help repair stress-related depletion.
Herbal medicine: adaptogens such as ashwagandha or holy basil, and immune-modulating herbs like reishi and turmeric, can help balance stress and immune function.
When combined with subconscious reprogramming, these natural therapies create a foundation for real transformation — not just symptom management.
The Body’s Call for Integration
Autoimmune disease invites us to listen deeply. It’s as though the body is saying, “Something within needs your attention.” Through methods like Family Constellations and Rapid Core Healing, we can uncover what the body has been expressing all along — the pain, grief, or unmet needs that were never given a voice.
True healing is never about fighting the body; it’s about understanding what it’s trying to communicate. When we address both the physiological and emotional roots, the immune system no longer has to defend against the self — it can return to its natural state of balance, protection, and peace.
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.