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Mitochondria: How Your Psychology Influences Your Cellular Language

Introduction

Mitochondria, the organelle that many of us were taught as the “energy machine” or “powerhouse” of the cell back in school days, are now known to also influence signaling and stress responses. Newly emerging evidence shows that cellular processes involving mitochondria are sensitive to psychosocial factors that shape our external world and, as we now understand, affect our internal environment as well. The same mechanisms that protect us from danger can become harmful over time when consistently active. Just as we get feedback from our boss at work, mitochondria also give feedback based on our environment.

The biological pathways in our bodies translate psychosocial experiences (such as chronic stress, trauma, depression, anxiety, or social connections) into observable cellular and molecular changes. In simpler terms, this means that our bodies convert these experiences into physiological changes. Cells making up our bodies are adaptive and can display emotion-like responses and decision-oriented behavioral patterns when exposed to a stressor. This is sometimes referred to as “cell psychology.”

Researchers are now discovering that mitochondria, beyond being the “powerhouse” of our cells, are also responsible for cellular signaling and stress adaptation (Fagundes, Wu-Chung, & Heijnen, 2025), with these processes directly affecting mitochondrial function. Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA) is a critical marker used to evaluate mitochondrial health. In response to external stimuli (such as physical endurance training or stress), mitochondrial biogenesis is activated when needed. This number can be measured through saliva or blood, making it a practical biomarker for behavioral analysis.

A recent study done in 2023 demonstrated that mitochondrial function directly impacts cognitive performance (memory formation, pattern recognition, etc.) as well as physical function (San-Millán, 2023). Since mitochondria are responsible for energy production within cells in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), measuring ATP output allows us to directly quantify cellular energy availability.

Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are byproducts of mitochondrial metabolism, with excess amounts indicating oxidative stress. This is what we take antioxidants for! Elevated ROS levels are directly associated with aging processes and neurodegenerative diseases, serving as strong indicators of cellular damage. Understanding these mechanisms opens new avenues for research in cellular aging and regenerative therapies (ScienceDirect, 2026).

Mitochondria as “Sensors”

Mitochondria do more than generate energy. They act as environmental sensors of the body, based on the internal and external stimuli. Chronic psychological stress can influence mitochondrial function, including ATP production efficiency and mtDNA copy number. These changes reflect adaptive responses to environmental demands.

For example, when faced with persistent stress, mitochondria may initially increase energy output to meet physiological demands. Over time, however, chronic activation can lead to dysfunction, contributing to fatigue, cognitive challenges, or altered mood. This illustrates how mitochondria translate psychological experiences into measurable biological responses. 

Implications of Mitochondrial Health

Mitochondrial function plays a central role in both cognition and physical performance. ATP generated by mitochondria fuels neural signaling, memory formation, pattern recognition, and overall physical endurance.

When mitochondrial function is optimal, it supports brain processes and bodily functions. Conversely, impaired mitochondrial activity contributes to fatigue, brain fog, and diminished cognitive and/or physical capacity. This demonstrates a direct link between mental states, mitochondrial efficiency, and overall health (San-Millán, 2023).

Oxidative Stress and Cellular Aging

Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are byproducts of mitochondrial metabolism. Under normal conditions, they serve important signaling roles. However, excess ROS leads to oxidative stress, which damages DNA, proteins, and lipids. Elevated ROS levels are directly associated with aging, neurodegenerative diseases, and chronic stress. This is what we take antioxidants for! Antioxidants help neutralize these species while maintaining mitochondrial balance. Chronic psychological stress can increase ROS production, linking mental health directly to cellular damage and accelerated aging processes. Understanding this opens new avenues for regenerative medicine and interventions to support both cellular and psychological wellbeing.

Conclusion

Mitochondria are more than just energy producers. They are also dynamic regulators of cellular communication, stress adaptation, and overall physiological balance. Psychological experiences, from stress and trauma to social experiences, can influence mitochondrial function significantly. Eventually, this translates into measurable changes at the cellular level. Understanding this connection encourages a perspective in which mental health and cellular biology are deeply intertwined. Healing and wellbeing can be supported not only through psychological interventions but also by considering their impact on cellular and mitochondrial health.

I am a cellular and molecular biologist, and this topic is directly an area of my interest based on my studies. My background allows me to interpret mental health through a biological lens. Instead of viewing psychological states as abstract experiences, I see them as patterns of cellular signaling and adaptation. 

References

Dantzer, R., O’Connor, J. C., Freund, G. G., Johnson, R. W., & Kelley, K. W. (2008). From inflammation to sickness and depression: When the immune system subjugates the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(1), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2297

Fagundes, C. P., Wu-Chung, E. L., & Heijnen, C. J. (2025). Psychological science at the cellular level: Mitochondria’s role in health and behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214251380214

Picard, M., & McEwen, B. S. (2018). Psychological stress and mitochondria: A conceptual framework. Psychosomatic Medicine, 80(2), 126–140. https://doi.org/10.1097/psy.0000000000000544

San-Millán, I. (2023). The key role of mitochondrial function in health and disease. Antioxidants, 12(4), 782. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox12040782

Wu-Chung, E. L., Medina, L. D., Paoletti-Hatcher, J., Lai, V. B., Stinson, J. M., Mahant, I., Schulz, P. E., Heijnen, C. J., & Fagundes, C. P. (2024). Mitochondrial health, physical functioning, and daily affect: Bioenergetic mechanisms of dementia caregiver wellbeing. Psychosomatic Medicine, 86(6), 512–522. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001312

Author Bio

Pelin Ceyrekbasioglu is a molecular biology scientist with a strong focus on cellular signaling and the intersection between physiology and mental health. Her work centers on translating complex biological processes into a bridge between scientific understanding and real-life human experiences. Her areas of expertise are particularly in mitochondrial biology, stress adaptation, and systems-level regulation. Through her writing, she aims to make science relatable, easy to understand, and meaningful for everyday life.

 

Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license for mental health awareness with editorial review.

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What Is Therapy?

Free written therapy optimisation

Therapy is a safe and non-judgemental space to project your thoughts and feelings. It’s a set of interventions and communicative experiences to enhance your wellbeing. They are physical, mental and emotional. We explore past memories, present emotions and future objectives  over a few sessions. The process is to make you feel free and fresh. Its a results based approach. You will be able to direct your self-awareness to achieve positive impact and internal harmony.

How much information can the therapist/psychologist disclose about themselves?

It is a general code to keep the therapy one-directional. Therapists adhere to a client-centred approach to make sure the therapeutic sessions are directed towards your personal wellbeing. You can ask your therapist about their years of experience and other personal details but remember therapy is essentially about you. We aim to prioritise your wellbeing.

How does writing therapy help?

Writing about yourself stimulates parts of the brain that are not stimulated by talking. Talking helps express emotions better. You always have the backspace button with writing therapy which helps you use words that fit your situation to the best of your ability. It’s quite the same if you prefer to write with a pencil, you always have the eraser, right at the back. Language is the most essential mindfulness tool in therapy. Currently, we provide writing therapy only in English. This is mostly because your brain is positively impacted when it switches to a different language.

Expressive writing helps bring about self-awareness and mental rejuvenation. Since the left hemisphere of the brain is activated, you train your brain to to work efficiently without getting burnt-out. A relaxed and active brain helps reduce SAD symptoms (stress, anxiety & depression) and breaks creative blocks.

Hold a second. Is it the same as Written Therapy?

Both writing and written therapy are expressive therapies. However, how different therapists approach your situation at hand is slightly different.  At any point of time in your written therapy you can request a one-to-one session with your therapist. Your therapist might be trained in Gestalt, Ganzfeld, Psychotherapy, CBT, MBT, REBT, ACT or other similar mix of words.

We provide Ganzfeld Effect Therapy which is a specialisation field of Gestalt Psychology. In writing therapy, you and your therapist always communicate in writing (sometimes anonymously) or through suggestions based journal therapy.

The process is quite simple with WHJ Written Therapy Online

  1. Write about the presenting problem or conflicting thought.
    This refers to anything that is making you feel quite unbalanced in the last few days. Your therapist will personally ask you about the previous weeks, months, years and situations depending on your presenting problem. Some questions may be easy to answer and some others may require you to take some time to think. Be easy on yourself and remember this is a process.
  2. Exchange emails with your therapist.
    S/he will format your individual therapy plan along with our medical advisor. You will be given prompts to write about which will help your therapist understand you better and chart a therapy outline. You will be required to submit the Informed Consent. Through written therapy, you and your therapist will be able to keep a track of your Wellness and Health Journey intervention structure.
  3. Discuss which issue specifically requires a one-to-one virtually session.
    This will be for 30-60 minutes. Your therapist will ask you to elaborate on the specific issue. You will also practice with some self-touch and no-touch energetic healing tools and techniques. It is not necessary to schedule a virtual call with your therapist if you are not comfortable.
  4. Before ending your therapy, discuss a date with to set targets to achieve personal goals.
    The first and last written sessions are the most important since they shape your Wellness and Health Journey and also mark the time period of self-growth. You don’t want to miss the recap of your progress.

How does Written Therapy help prevent trauma?

SAD symptoms have a knack to induce trauma if not treated with therapy for a long period of time. Trauma is remembered by your body and sometimes forgotten by your brain. They can appear in other ways such as increased or decreased blood pressure, heart rate, body weight, body heat, unhealthy diet or mood swings. Do you have any of these symptoms or feel emotional blocks? If the answer is yes, you might have been exposed to trauma. Talk to your therapist about these symptoms or any other which are currently bothering you.

Your psychologist is your therapy specialist is your psychologist is your therapy specialist. Take a few extra seconds and read that again, but this time slowly.

Sometimes our family and friends can help us, sometimes they can’t. For those tricky feelings that stress, depress or make us anxious, we bring to you your Wellness and Health Journey FREE written therapy.

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GG’s 12 Wellness and Health Journey Pointers

GG’s 12 Wellness and Health Journey Pointers

Hey there! You can call me GG. 🙂

The idea of mental health found a place for itself in my mind only when I was in my college. Until then, health entirely meant the physical aspect. Long story short, I was in a chaotic state while pursuing my engineering degree at NIT Trichy. My first and second years were gruelling, harsh and had a devastating impact on my mental state. I had a multitude problems from every front I could imagine – academics, career, relationships, and the protagonist of the story was existential crisis.

If what I am talking about here seems obscure, let me give you some background. I was an extremely studious person throughout school. Thanks to a sudden bombardment of existential questions and figuring out the meaning of it all, I lost my interest towards scoring high right at the perfect moment. Fortunately, my previous work paid off and helped me get a place in a good college. However, this state of mind followed me till college, and it was just the beginning.

Fear dawned within me. Actually, that’s an underplay. Fear and confusion “reigned” over me. My confusion: “What am I going to do with my life? What do I really like? What is the purpose?”, and all that sort of stuff. I just couldn’t bring myself to stability at that time. Days, months, in fact, years passed by as I was stuck in this state.

The Turning Phase

On one hand, I did enjoy my days there – Outings, late night talks and mini-adventures. The carefree nature I once imagined I could never have, also thrilled me. However, it were those same factors (people) that put me into depression for the first two years. Depression. Yes. Not sadness, depression. It wasn’t particularly people, but my thoughts which led to that state. I realize this as I reflect back now.

The turning phase came when I realized that this problem was not going to solve by itself. At the same time, this was something that I can tackle. My first break came as I began ranting about this to a close friend of mine. That lifted down a humungous weight off my chest. Next, I started listening to motivational stories – note, not motivational videos of people screaming, “Do this, do that!”, but inspirational stories of real-life people. I changed my eating habits, started pursuing new hobbies, went out, talked with more people. I was trying to figure out my passion, whilst reassuring that it’s going to be okay even if you’re late in discovering it. As time flew, I started noticing changes. A lot of them. I started becoming more stable, had lesser fear than before and felt a lot more at ease.

12 Wellness and Health Journey Pointers That I Follow Till Day

What I mentioned here was merely the nutshell of the things that I did and the time and patience it took for the internal transformation. If I were to list down the few key things of my journey so far, they would be:
1. Remember that it’s going to be okay.
2. You’re not alone in this battle.
3. Try sharing it with someone, if you’re comfortable with it.
4. Eat well. Eat healthy. ENJOY eating.
5. Do all the good physical stuff – yoga, breathing, exercises (it was dancing in my case).
6. Read, watch or listen to a lot of good stuff (remember, what type of content you consume is extremely important).
7. Consume relaxed content (the previous point was to focus more on inspirational or educational stuff). Stuff like music, anime and gaming always cheered me up.
8. Have a person you can look up to either in your personal life or some famous personality.
9. If you have ANY addictions in any form, try to get rid of them as early as possible (at the very least, reduce them).
10. Go out. Travel. Near or far, if you have the chance to go out, just go to that mountain or beach or forest, and enjoy the beauty of nature.
11. Start a new hobby. Few which I enjoy – writing, photography, cooking and dancing.
12. Interact more with people.

Also, get yourself around good people. I don’t mean to say some people are bad, but some relationships can be really toxic. For example, someone might applaud hustle culture, but that might not be suitable to you. Another example, you might be in a circle where everyone has a partner, but you personally feel that it isn’t the best time for you to get into one. Basically, end or loosen ends with toxic relationships that pressure you to do something you don’t like and surround yourself with people who can energize you, motivate you and keep you smiling.

These are some of the things that I did which eventually helped me to have a more healthy and stress-free state of mind. I really do hope and pray that this article is in some way helpful to you, the reader.

P. S. Hearty kudos to the team for the idea, vision and the work behind the Wellness and Health Journey.

Best wishes & peace :D!

Author Bio

GG holds an MBA degree and works for a top-tier IT company.

 

Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license for mental health awareness with editorial review.

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Anna’s Case – Health Anxiety

Anna’s Case – Health Anxiety

Do you find similarities between yourself and Anna?

Anna is a 33 year old Russian woman who has been living and working in Bangalore for 5 years. She originally came to therapy with signs of health anxiety and preoccupation with physical symptoms, which seem to have been triggered by her boyfriend of four years deciding to go to Amsterdam for a year and a consequent fear of losing the relationship. It seemed in the initial session that Anna was focusing and worrying about her physical health instead of having to deal with her feelings about her boyfriend leaving. However, when the therapist asked whether this might be possible, she denied this and was in the process of undergoing repeated medical tests and scans to identify a cause for her physical symptoms. It was discussed that therapy would only be helpful for Anna when she saw at least some of her problems as being linked to psychological factors.

Six months later Anna contacted the therapist again and arranged another consultation. She was now under the care of a psychiatrist, who had started her on antidepressants and suggested she try therapy again. Anna’s boyfriend had gone to Amsterdam and the relationship had ended. She felt abandoned and empty and deeply missed the friendship. Although she felt that the relationship had probably not been right for a long time, she had stayed in it so long because she was afraid of being alone. She realized she had been dependent on her boyfriend for validation, attention and acceptance, and was struggling to adjust to being single. She noted a pattern in all relationships (with both family and past partners) of being dependent on others (for advice, looking after, self-esteem, etc.) and described herself as an “egoist” who tries to manipulate others to get what she wants and never being happy with what she gets. She had no strong hobbies, interests or passions. She had a small but good circle of friends in Prague and often spent time socializing with them. She also had regular contact with her family in Russia.

Although, Anna wanted to learn to be comfortable being alone, within a few weeks she had started flirting with colleagues in whom she had never been interested previously, in order to distract herself and get attention. Despite being insecure about her appearance, she also placed a lot of value on it and used it as her main way of interacting with males. Se described multiple instances of binge drinking, sometimes to the point of vomiting and memory loss.

Anna is under the care of a person-centered therapist. She is doing better now compared to when she started therapy. If you found similarities between your case and Anna’s, our team would be able to help you.

Personal details have been changed to preserve confidentiality.