Can a psychological issue cause numbness in the body?

Psychological issues will not only impact your mind, but also your body. In fact, emotional traumas set into motion the emergency function of the sympathetic nervous system known as the "fight or flight" response. When pressed by a psychological issue, your brain will work to problem solve - sending messages to your muscles and organs to be ready to fight the problem or flee from it.  Most times, you'll be able to work the psychological issue without great stress on your mind or body. Other times, the emotional trauma might be too overwhelming to work through. At these moments, the acute stress of the situation causes your body to hold onto the psychological issue. These "somatic experiences" can take the form of numbness in a part of your body, sensations of hot or coldness, even physical pain, just to name a few. Often, the kind of body sensation(s) you have can be quite symbolic of the trauma with which you have endured. Psychotherapy looks at the literal experiences of emotional pain, and also the symbolic levels of it. And as such, body awareness and somatic experience are important aspect to consider.