The BodyMind Approach® to support students in higher education: Relationships between student stress, medically unexplained physical symptoms and mental health

Abstract

This article proposes that The BodyMind Approach® (TBMA) (Payne, 2009) can be employed as an innovative psychoeducational intervention targeting the many students in universities with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) (such as chronic pain/fatigue, fibromyalgia, headache or backache for which tests/scans return normal), often with co-occurring anxiety/depression. It provides a rationale for TBMA by exploring benefits in the context of the relationships between student stress, MUS and the substantial increase in mental ill-health in higher education provider (HEP) settings. By contributing to the discussion on how to enhance student helpseeking behaviour for chronic stress/mental health difficulties, TBMA has the potential to advance knowledge and facilitate theory development in mental health within HEPs. Although not reporting research here, TBMA has shown encouraging outcomes in the UK National Health Service (Payne & Brooks, 2017, 2020.TBMA emphasizes the cultivation of good mental health and sustained resilience through participants learning to self-manage stress, associated with MUS, by integrating body with mind.Previous studies on body-oriented approaches for MUS (Röhricht, Sattel, Kuhn & Lahmann, 2019;Papadopoulos, Burrell, Smith, & Röhricht, 2017) have shown positive results. Students may be more able to live well with their bodily distress by learning to self-manage rather than experiencing consequences such as reduced emotional resilience, and/or mental health conditions due to overwhelming stress. TBMA could contribute to overall mental health and wellbeing by, for example, increasing early help-seeking behaviour and academic outcomes, and reducing referrals to oversubscribed counselling services and/or withdrawals from studies. It is hoped this discourse will help inform organizational practices and educational policies aimed at supporting student mental health and wellbeing. 2 2The BodyMind Approach® Current HEPs' interventions address solely the psychological elements of MUS, and only with verbal methods. This, despite many students feeling unable to access such services due to stigma, defensive verbal communication to avoid emotion, their explanatory model being solely physical, or if non-native speakers, for example. Students can access medication/pain management or more tests/scans which treat these bodily symptoms only, neglecting the associated stress/anxiety/depression. No current intervention caters for both the emotional and bodily distress, attracts less stigma, reduces avoidance behaviour and employs nonverbal, embodied methods rather than verbal language alone. Since many students do not disclose or seek help for chronic stress/mental health difficulties, a psychoeducational intervention targeting students with MUS may be more acceptable, reducing fear of judgement thus increasing numbers benefiting from support.TBMA is designed for students not coping with their MUS to learn to self-manage both symptoms, and the emotional counterpart, to improve and sustain good mental health. The co...

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