20% physical ailments are likely to be stress-related

One in five of all physical complaints that people raise with doctors is likely to be stress-related.

“We have discovered that many common physiological symptoms such as muscle aches, joint pains, headaches, chronic fatigue, and even dental pain, can be caused or part caused by mental health problems,” said Prof Jim Lucey, clinical professor of psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin.

Prof Lucey, who is also medical director at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services in Dublin, will present new research on stress-related pain during the two-day autumn meeting of the Irish Society of Rheumatology, which gets under way today.