Perhaps it’s fruitless to disagree or discuss this with Google’s AI, but in undertaking to comment on this statement here I am doing so as an acknowledgement that the above is a view held by many, including those who can and do work in the “medical” side of healthcare. And I must also acknowledge that I feel a higher level of discomfort when a medical provider asks me something like “are you sure anxiety can’t be causing your symptoms?”

First, it is often made after discovering I either have a kiddo with significant disabilities or a very high stress life (with the assumption being that I must have poorly controlled mental health related issues because of either). And second, anyone who has ever worked in healthcare knows that the moment a provider even thinks your symptoms may be caused by any sort of mental health condition, workups can become half-hearted and risk missing actual physical disease that needs treatment (with an added bonus that these providers often seem to think such patients are a waste of their time, which can be felt in the bedside manner and other interactions, all of which can exacerbate any existing mental health concerns or even create them).

I think if one were to look at the medical literature, it would bear out that high stress or any sort of “mental” health related concern can cause very real “physical” health problems, such as heart attacks. But aside from that, the mind is part of the body. What happens to any one person is complicated. The interplay between so many components of the physical health can impact the what goes on in the mind and vice versa.

Regardless, one of the greatest joys of my life has been to stand beside my children in whatever manner was required and the assumption that having a kiddo with a disability equates to having not only mental health needs but inadequately treated ones feels upsetting, dismissive, and rests on an a lot of assumptions based perhaps on how they themselves or even someone other than me might feel in my circumstances. But I do also think it’s important to acknowledge that the stress of having “physical” illness as a caregiver can lead to mental health related concerns without active and mindful management.

That is just my hot take. And now, I’m off to watch a movie with my family.