Kingston, Ontario Psychotherapy & Counselling Specialty Clinic for Psychogenic Illnesses/
Somatic Symptom Disorders
Psychogenic Illnesses:
Real, Treatable, & Nothing to Be Ashamed Of
Struggling with Mysterious Symptoms? You're Not Alone.
Ever been told “it’s all in your head”?
If so, let’s be clear: that’s NOT what we’re saying here.
Psychogenic illnesses are very real. Your symptoms—whether they involve pain, weakness, tremors, or even loss of function—are not imaginary, exaggerated, or “made up.”
While the medical model of treatment may not be well set-up to help you with this unique kind of problem, and while there is no "medical reason" that's been found to explain why you're struggling with this, there is a human-being reason for these symptoms - we can guarantee that - And the best part? The symptoms - they’re treatable.
When you have these symptoms, your body is talking to you, and trying to get you help. It's just not quite figured out how to get you the memo in a way that you can work with.
Silly body!
These symptoms, they’re simply your nervous system's way of coping with <<gestures vaguely around>> EVERYTHING. So, lemme guess - apart from these physical issues, you've been having to deal with overload, overwhelming stress, trauma, or never-ending emotional conflict. AmIright?
Yep. I figured. At Limestone Clinic Kingston Counselling & Psychotherapy, we specialize in understanding these conditions, offering evidence-based therapy, and—most importantly—treating you with the respect and compassion you deserve.
No gaslighting. No judgement. No dismissiveness.
Just real help for real symptoms.
So, what do you say? Let’s give it a go, yeah?
FAQs about Psychogenic Illness & Somatic Symptom Disorders Treatment with Psychotherapy and Counselling in Kingston, ON
Which of your staff are qualified to treat psychogenic illnesses and Somatic Disorders?
Dr. Kris Boksman, B.Math., M.A., Ph.D.
Doctoral-Level Clinical Psychologist
Grand Poobah
Emad Zahedi, B.A., M.A.C.P.
Registered Psychotherapist
Clinical Associate*
Ryan Schmidtke, Dip Addiction Careworker
Registered Psychotherapist
Core Staff Therapist
What should I expect in therapy for my psychogenic illness needs?
• You book a free consultation or a full-length first appointment with us by sending us a message or phoning our virtual admin staff. • Once you and your therapist decide to work together, you and your therapist will get really curious about all the things that are going on that are related to your specific problems. • These problems usually take a while to develop, so you should anticipate and budget for a longer duration of therapy - probably at least 12-16 sessions • You and your therapist will review your personal history, your medical history, your family upbringing, and trauma history for meaningful links. • You and your therapist will work on building enough trust that you feel comfortable working with him or her on all the things about your inner life that are relevant. • You will explore how your life experiences, thoughts, and situational specifics seem to be combining to spark your physical symptom. • You will work on strategies to deflate the factors that make your physical body dysregulated, usually by slowly learning to better connect to your relevalnt challenging thoughts and emotions - this is hard work, and it takes some time to get to the point you're feeling better, overall. • You will start feeling better after a period of putting in the work (usually, this is in about 12-16 sessions where you can really start to see the differences), IF you're being honest and transparent with your therapist and are practicing skills between sessions. If not, it'll take longer.
Is Psychotherapy right for me?
• Are you committed to making a change in your emotional life and how you manage stressors in your work, your relationships? • Are you willing to invest in yourself financially and have the funds to give this a fair shake? • Will you give yourself the time you need to turn around a challenging problem without adding in unrealistic expectations? • Realistically, only you can decide if this is right for you. • If you're not sure about who you might like to see, that's ok! An option is to book a free 15-minute consultation to get a "feel" for the therapist of your choosing?
What Are Psychogenic Illnesses, Anyways?
Your mind and body are in constant communication, and sometimes, when stress or trauma builds up, that communication gets a little scrambled. This type of problem is known by a lot of different names, including Conversion Disorder and Somatic Symptom Disorder.
Instead of experiencing emotional distress in the usual ways (like anxiety or sadness), your brain translates that distress into physical symptoms. This isn’t something you’re choosing to do—it’s an involuntary coping mechanism.
Psychogenic illnesses (also called functional neurological disorders or somatic symptom disorders) affect thousands of people, often leaving them confused, frustrated, and feeling completely invalidated by the medical system. But here’s the truth: these conditions are well-documented, extensively studied, and absolutely legitimate. The key to recovery is addressing the underlying emotional factors while developing tools to re-calibrate your brain-body connection.
Common Forms of Psychogenic Illnesses
Some of the most frequently diagnosed psychogenic conditions include:
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Functional Neurological Disorder (FND): Symptoms like tremors, paralysis, or seizures that aren’t caused by structural brain damage but are still very real.
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Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES): Seizures that look and feel like epileptic seizures but don’t have the same neurological origin.
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Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD): Chronic pain, fatigue, or other persistent physical symptoms that don’t have a clear medical cause.
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Conversion Disorder: Sudden loss of motor or sensory function (like paralysis or blindness) triggered by emotional stress.
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Psychogenic Pain: Chronic pain that doesn’t match a typical injury pattern but is still absolutely real and sometimes so severe, it is debilitating.
If any of these sound familiar, know that help is available. These conditions don’t mean you’re “broken” or “crazy”—they just mean your nervous system needs to learn a new way to send you the "Hey I think we need to change something up a little, please?" memo...
Does Psychotherapy Work for Psychogenic Illnesses?
Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Absolutely, and science backs it up.
Research shows that psychotherapy—particularly cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), trauma-informed therapy, and mind-body approaches—can significantly improve symptoms of psychogenic illnesses.
Articles published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, The Journal of Movement Disorders, and The American Psychological Assocation indicate that psychotherapy is effective, and that targeted therapy can help rewire the brain’s response to stress and improve physical functioning (source, source, source).
In therapy, we work on:
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Identifying underlying emotional stressors that may be fuelling symptoms.
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Teaching the nervous system how to regulate responses to stress in new ways.
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Developing coping strategies to reduce symptom severity and improve daily functioning.
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Establishing new coping strategies that do not cause your body to gang up on you, and making sure they're solidly in place, so you don't have to go through this again in the future.
It’s about teaching your brain and body new ways to interact and to let you know, without all the medical drama, when you need to take action to manage your emotional needs and stressors — and learning how to shift that interaction in a way that works for you.