Human energy affected by fear and emotions

Human energy is stimulated by a normal emotion such as fear. Like fear, anxiety sets similar body processes in motion. But since nothing is accomplished, the body is not called upon either to fight or flee, there is no decision; and the anxiety may be prolonged, it may lead to disturbances-respiratory difficulties, heart palpitation, muscular pain, headaches, and gastrointestinal problems. Normal Anxiety Some degree of anxiety is experienced by all of us. 

Many psychiatrists believe that the major source of it is man's con- science, an internal censor that begins to develop early in life in response to real or assumed attitudes of parents and others close to the child.

As the child grows up, he may accept some of these standards, reject some, and eventually he develops a system of right and wrong. When this sys- tem, or conscience, or internal censor, clashes with an individual's natural desires in some situations (for possession, vengeance, love, sex), his personality in a sense is divided, and he experiences feelings of apprehension, tension, and inner restlessness. Anxiety has other sources, too. 

The conscience may take over the approval-disapproval functions of parents, teachers, and others. But the individual still has need for the approval of others. And anxiety may arise not only from a conflict with conscience but because of the disapproval, or fear of disapproval, of other people-family, friends, and employers.

Normal anxiety is part of the growth process, a natural response when a child, for example, is threatened by separation from parents, or when an adult considers old age and death. But if we need a certain amount of anxiety to help give us initiative and responsiveness to changing situations, to help us think and act creatively, there is also a sick or unhealthy anxiety, an inappropriate or excessive response to a situation. Chronic anxiety may reveal itself in abnormal behavioral patterns. 

A chronically anxious child may show his emotional disturbance or unrest by nail-biting, thumb-sucking, or bed-wetting. A chronically anxious adolescent may reveal it in excessive shyness or excessive activity. Obviously, anxiety is not a pleasant emotion. As quickly as we can, we try to be free of it. For this, we may use one or more defense mechanisms.

We may try to deny the anxiety or rationalize it. A particularly common mechanism is repression, by which we exclude from the mind, push down into the unconscious, any ideas or memories that might arouse painful anxiety. But if the repressed material does not well up into the mind, it is not inactive. It exerts drive. And we may use anyone or several other mental mechanisms to keep it from coming into consciousness again. We may release the anxiety indirectly and inappropriately, this, psychiatrists point out, accounts for many cases such as, that of a young woman who, for no clear reason, often became enraged with an older woman, under whom she worked.

Her rage was not warranted and, study revealed, it was really directed toward her own unpleasant mother; but because she could not tolerate the idea of being so angry with her own mother, she had shifted her feeling to a substitute person. Not all mental mechanism~ for handling anxiety are necessarily seriously harmful. A mother who is overly protective, for example, may be using her excessive concern to disguise from herself some unconscious hostility toward the child, and yet she may remain a reasonably happy and effective person. 

Actually, many defenses we erect against anxiety may help us, contributing to our emotional equilibrium.

But if they are carried to excess, they become disturbing and may lead to neuroses. Consider, for example, one way by which an obsessive-compulsive neurosis may develop. A child becomes anxious because of some hostile feelings he has toward one or both parents. He tries to repress the feelings but this is not enough. To strengthen the repression, he shifts his hostility toward an activity that disturbs. his parents-soiling, for instance. But then the soiling disturbs him and to counteract the disturbance he becomes overly preoccupied with cleanliness.

Emotions affects body defenses

Fear causes the heart to beat faster and produces other temporary reactions, designed to get the body ready for action, either to run or to fight. It's when fear or other emotional tension is prolonged or repeated very frequently that it can have a debilitating effect on body organs. It is hardly surprising that about half of all people seeking medical help-according to some estimates, even 75 percent-have ailments either produced or made worse by emotional factors. 

We shall examine in the next chapter the kinds of emotional stresses that most commonly bring on physical symptoms. But it is important to emphasize something here: No patient, and no doctor, should blithely make a diagnosis of psychosomatic illness, or "nerves." No wise physician does. Psychosomatic problems are common, but to assume that emotions explain everything in an individual case is to risk serious consequences. Even when the emotional problems seem clearly to be the kind that could produce a physical complaint, the emotions may actually be stemming from the complaint.

They may, in fact, be the first indication of a developing physical disease. Restlessness, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite may stem from an emotional disturbance, but they may also result from a yet-undiagnosed heart condition. Systemic or central nervous system infections can pre- sent themselves as severe behavior disorders. Even helpful medicines such as cortisone may produce mental disturbances. 

Traditionally, a diagnosis of psychosomatic illness is a diagnosis of exclusion-a process in which other likely possibilities are carefully considered and found not applicable, leaving emotion as the culprit. The physician notes the symptoms, makes a physical examination, may order some basic and special laboratory and x-ray studies. Only when he has satisfied himself that, for example, the chest pain is not due to actual heart disease or that the episodes of abdominal pain and vomiting are not produced by gallstones or other physical causes does he feel justified in considering an emotional explanation. 

There is always the danger that an organic problem-an overactive or underactive thyroid, underactive adrenal glands, diabetes, possibly even a brain tumor-may pass unnoted if a full history, thorough examination, and supporting clinical studies are not meticulously executed.

In such cases, as soon as the organic problem has been solved, the emotional symptoms disappear. What, then, can you carry away from this discussion? First, the emotional problems are commonly involved in physical difficulties. Often, they are the cause of the physical illness. At other times, they may not be the prime cause but an accentuating factor. At still other times, the emotional disturbances may be the result of the physical problem. 

Thus, there should never be a blithe assumption that any physical complaint is entirely psychosomatic; there should be a medical study to determine whether it is. Second, if the diagnosis is psychosomatic, it should be accepted grate- fully, not shamefully. Much can be done about overcoming the problem, as we shall see.