Dr. Ingela Thuné-Boyle
Health Psychologist
Online Practice

Health psychology is a vital and evolving field that explores how psychological, behavioural, and social factors influence physical health and illness. While traditionally associated with chronic illness, pain management, and health behavior change, health psychology also plays a critical role in addressing trauma and grief. These profoundly human experiences, which are often undetectable by medical tests, significantly impact both mental health and physical well-being.

Experiencing a major bereavement is among the most painful and destabilizing events a person can face. When that loss is traumatic, unexpected, violent, or profoundly significant, it can leave deep psychological scars. For someone already living with a chronic illness, the impact of traumatic grief is compounded, creating a complex intersection of physical vulnerability and emotional devastation. Navigating this dual burden can feel like trying to heal two wounds at once

Grief is a natural reaction to loss, but it doesn’t follow the same path for everyone. When a death is sudden, violent, or deeply...

'Medical trauma' refers to a patient's psychological and physiological response to a negative or traumatic experience in a medical...

The mind-body connection refers to the link between our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, and our physical health. This relationship is bi

The connection between narcissistic abuse, trauma, and chronic illness conditions, underscores the profound impact of emotional suffering on

Some people with a chronic illness or with distressing physical symptoms may have experienced trauma in their lives, either as a direct result of their illness or at a previous point in their lives. Ongoing childhood abuse, for example, has been shown to be related to ill health in adulthood, where those who experienced a rough childhood are more likely to be diagnosed with a chronic illness later on in life.

Living with a long-term illness can be difficult on so many levels but one aspect sticks out: being minimized and dismissed by healthcare professionals. This is unfortunately fairly common for those living with a rare, 'invisible' or poorly understood condition. When someone in a position of power treats us badly, we usually end up feeling pretty stupid, embarrassed and ashamed and knowing the unfairness of the situation and our inability to deal with it at that moment, we ma