There’s more to chronic illness than meets the eye; your body knows the story.

In this episode of Everyday Intimacy, I sit down with Veronique Mead, a former physician who left traditional medicine to study the deeper origins of chronic illness. Veronique shares how early life experiences, emotional neglect, and long-term stress can shape the body, why your symptoms are not your fault, and what it truly means to listen to your body’s signals.

If you’ve ever felt dismissed, unseen, or lost in your symptoms, this conversation offers a new perspective you may have never heard before.

• Veronique Mead is a former Board-Certified family physician and Dartmouth-affiliated assistant professor of family medicine who left medicine to explore the deeper roots of chronic illness. She went on to earn her Master’s in somatic psychotherapy from Naropa University, with specialty training in trauma.

• Through her platform, Chronic Illness Trauma Studies, Veronique shares research showing how trauma, especially early relational and developmental trauma, is an underestimated risk factor for autoimmune and other chronic illnesses. Her work helps people see their symptoms through the lens of survival, not fault, offering a compassionate and science-backed understanding of why healing takes time.

  • Website: chronicillnesstraumastudies.com

  • Instagram: @veroniquemead

  • Facebook: Chronic Illness Trauma Studies

  • YouTube: Veronique Mead Channel

  • LinkedIn: Veronique Mead

  • Free ebook: 16 Trauma-Informed Tools for Healing Chronic Illness

• Angela's Links.

• • Instagram: @theangelarivero

  • Work with Angela: somashift.org/work-with-me