Healthy
men and women are subject to human tensions but they are able to find ways to
relieve them without excessive anxiety. Among the ways they use: Talking over
worries with a sympathetic friend, relative, physician, or anyone else whose
judgment they respect.
Getting away for a while, even if only for a short walk
Working off anger, preferably by
discussing it openly with a trusted, mature person; sometimes in some physical activity
Taking one thing at a time,
especially when feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of too much to do. Giving
in sometimes, even when certain they are right. Helping others, getting out of
the vicious circle that preoccupation with one's own troubles can produce.
Being slow with criticism
Cooperating, being aware that
though we live in a competitive society, many situations call for cooperative
effort; and aware, too, that if one competes all the time, one may be too weary
and too worn to enjoy success when it is achieved. THE BASIC DISORDERS A useful
way to classify abnormal behavior is by dividing it into four broad categories:
psychosomatic disorders, neuroses, character disorders, and psychoses. Although
there can be some overlapping and intermixing, these four types of ailments can
be examined separately. Psychosomatic Disorders These illnesses, which we have
discussed in earlier chapters, are understandable to anyone who has ever had a
headache after a fight with spouse or employer, or experienced butterflies in
the stomach before taking an important examination.
Occasional
mild distress of this sort is universal and harmless. But some people
experience such symptoms al- most constantly, and their discomfort is intense.
Psychosomatic illnesses can assume many forms, including skin outbreaks,
stomach upsets, high blood pressure, and asthma. These are not imaginary
problems; even when there is no physical cause, pain can be authentic and
illness very real. A person with an emotionally produced physical ailment needs
psycho- logical help, but he also is as much in need of medical help as the
individual whose disease has organic roots.
