Why Your Chronic Pain Isn't Physical (The Real Truth & How to Heal)Why Your Chronic Pain Isn't Physical (The Real Truth & How to Heal)
The Shiftshow with Adriana Bucci
Adriana Bucci shares how her chronic pain was tied to repressed emotions from a narcissistic upbringing and outlines a practical, daily approach to emotional release. The episode focuses on journaling, feeling emotions in the body, and slowly lightening the subconscious "cup" of stored trauma.
10:25•7 Oct 2026
Why Your Chronic Pain Might Be Trapped Emotions, Not Just Your Body
Episode Overview
- Chronic pain can sometimes be linked to repressed emotions rather than purely structural physical issues.
- Growing up with a narcissistic parent may teach a child to bury emotions, which can later show up as physical symptoms.
- Viewing the subconscious as a cup of "marbles" helps explain how stored emotions can be gradually released instead of ignored.
- Expressive journaling for 20 minutes a day can support emotional processing and reduce the load on the nervous system over time.
- Consistency with inner work is more important than perfection, and trying to unpack everything at once can be destabilising.
“"The structural abnormality within my jaw was not the problem. It was the repressed emotions that were trapped in my body."”
How do people manage co-occurring mental and physical health issues while recovering? This episode of The Shiftshow with Adriana Bucci zooms in on chronic pain, emotional repression, and growing up with a narcissistic parent, tying them together in a way that might make you look at your aches and anxiety very differently.
Adriana shares her own experience of years of TMJ dysfunction, intense trigeminal neuralgia after shingles at 30, and carpal tunnel, all shrugged off by doctors as issues she might just have to live with. Her turning point came when she realised, "the structural abnormality within my jaw was not the problem.
It was the repressed emotions that were trapped in my body." Raised by a narcissistic mother, she learned early on that feeling emotions wasn’t safe, so everything got buried – until her body started screaming. You’ll hear her break down the idea of the subconscious as a "cup" filled with marbles, each marble representing a repressed emotion like fear.
The goal isn’t to erase the subconscious, but to gently "take a marble out" by feeling and expressing one emotion at a time. She explains that emotions are physical processes, linking decades of suppressed fear and anger to chronic pain, anxiety, and a nervous system stuck on high alert.
Adriana offers practical steps such as expressive journaling – setting a timer for 20 minutes and dumping every fear, worry, and worst-case scenario onto paper, then destroying it – while paying attention to sensations in the body. She’s honest about the fact that this inner work "sucks" and is more like emotional hygiene than a magic fix, reminding you that consistency beats perfection.
If you’ve been numbing out with alcohol, weed, or endless scrolling while your body stays tense and sore, this episode might prompt a tough but important question: are you ready to start emptying your own cup, one marble at a time?
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