Emotional first aid

Met a man this morning who had severe tummy cramps, bad back and felt very out of sorts. He talked to me about his symptoms at length and was perplexed because they seemed like a random assortment, not obviously linked to a medical problem.
Thats not an uncommon thing, people often lump symptoms together and look for a common physical cause. This raises a few issues; firstly we are complex organisms and so rather than looking for a common cause, often its better to look for a pattern of things, tummy ache and back ache often go together, tense your tummy muscles and notice what they are connected to=your spine. Pain alters posture, putting a strain on your back. A pattern not one cause.
Second we are a complex mindbody organism. Symtoms of the mind may arrise from the body (for example a leg problem leads to limited mobility may lead to depression) or, conversly the symptons of body may arrise from the mind. So its always worth thinking "what else could be going on here, how is this client feeling" and relating that to the symptoms. Our feelings are almost always involved.
The man this morning had a large bill overdue, was worried about the payment. When he talked about it, he suddenly saw how his symptoms reflected his emotional state. I spent two minutes helping him to relax, let go of anxiety and feel more positive. Then a few minutes on relaxing his tummy and back, and suggesting how much more relaxed he could choose to feel later in the day.
He left without tummy ache, straightening his back, feeling much better and more relaxed. 15 minutes of emotional first aid= a much better day.