The Case:  Lynn has Hashimoto’s and experiences fatigue, brain fog and mood swings. She takes thyroid medication and various supplements but still struggles to feel well. She’s frustrated because she eats well and follows a good thyroid protocol without the results.   The Investigation When I met Lynn, I saw that her TSH was fluctuating so we needed to stabilize her immune system. She was already following much of my advice with her diet and supplements. There were a few minor improvements we could make but my sense was that something else was playing a role in addition to her biochemistry.   What is a Psychoimmunologist? If you’ve never heard the term psychoneuroimmunology (sometimes referred to simply as psychoimmunology) it is the study of how the mind can affect the immune system.  Dr. Mario Martinez, a best-selling author is a thought leader in the field of psychoneuroimmunology with his books, “The Mind-Body Code: How the Mind Wounds and Heals the Body” and “The MindBody Self: How Longevity Is Culturally Learned and the Causes of Health Are Inherited” as well as his online courses, groups, and mentorships.  He’s been a popular guest on the show before and I knew he was perfect to join us to shed some light on this health mystery. Especially because lately, he’s been working on the role that authenticity plays in our immune health and our thyroid health.    What is Authenticity? Dr. Martinez says that there is a tremendous misconception around authenticity and inauthenticity. He explains that many of us were raised in a culture where being authentic simply means to be yourself and be honest. But, he says, that’s not enough. In his research, looking at the origin of the word ‘authenticity’ and how philosophers have pondered it in the past, he feels that being your honest self is only a surface version of yourself. This is because we internalize, morph, and sometimes forget who we are and what we want, in order to fit in with our tribe or cultural expectations. And then, we lose or forget our true self.    How Inauthenticity Causes Illness Behaving outside of our truth creates a stress response that over time, can create a real health issue. Even when we think we are being authentic, we may be fooling ourselves. The more we repeat these false beliefs about ourselves, and the more we speak about them (because language has power), the more concrete these false-perceptions feel. These feelings become our truth, even though they do not represent our true authentic self. And this can subconsciously cause an imbalance in the immune system through the mind-body connection because our language does not match our true authentic self.  For example, if you say, “I am a good person”. Your psycho terminology may trigger your mind to look for evidence of whether you're a good person or not. And if you begin to look at when you're not being a good person and that you have a history of not being a good person, you create an incoherence which triggers a stress response. If this continues, then you may find yourself with chronically high levels of cortisol. Which, in turn, can release inflammatory molecules, increasing a propensity for particular illnesses.  Dr. Martinez shared another hypothetical example about a little girl who learned to be submission to survive an abusive father. This submissiveness was necessary at the time. However, she may begin to believe that this is part of who she truly is. But, when she carries it forward into parts of her life where it is not necessary for survival, she may struggle to get the things she wants. Her learned truth and her real truth are out of balance. She is so used to being oppressed that she falls into a perceived helplessness. The moment that you feel helpless, like you don't have resources to deal with something overcoming you, your natural killer cells go down, your ideas go down, your inflammation goes up, and your immune system becomes helpless because you have a helpless consciousness.