We all know the pain of trapping a thumb, or hitting it with a hammer – that is physical pain. Our skin has to be sensitive to pain and pressure or we would not survive too long. The more intense our pain – the quicker we take action to move away. This suffering saves us from threats and damage to our body’s integrity.
Only man suffers mental stress as a result of natural anxiety. Animals instinctively provide the level of nurturing and support that their offspring need. Animals instinctively react to symptoms of anxiety caused by potential threats by instant flight or fight responses. Animals use paranoia about their environment instantly and constructively, they don’t become paranoid.
People suffer stress in life because life is complex and complicated. The trusting child born into the world needing only food, comfort and security, which animals never intentionally deny their young, will be subject to conflict and stress when they don’t get the support that they need. Infants learn relational patterns of interaction with others right from birth. Some end up with feelings of extreme anxiety associated with deprivation instead of satisfaction of needs. They reactively become aggressive or depressive.
Emotional pain is no different from physical pain. When thoughts are conflicted, the brain sends out conflicting messages to the body, you might have a constricted throat, but want to cry, you can feel so bad you want to die. When someone is “needling” us, “pricking” our conscience do we not call them “a thorn in our side”.
Sensory input and thoughts are painless in themselves – the brain has no pain receptors. Emotional pain is the result of the brain sending signals to physical parts of your body in response to processed information. How the brain responds to information depends on memories and past experience.
When our thoughts are confused, the brain sends out conflicting messages. When the mind is in conflict it creates physical tension, chemical imbalance, stresses our body – it is our response to biochemical process that we feel as emotional pain.
The relief of emotionally triggered pain in the body is no different to the relief of physically caused pain. Remove the source and the pain or tension goes away.
Healthy survival is about resolving anxiety and conflict so as to leave our mind and body relaxed and content. Unresolved anxiety puts the body and mind in a constant state of tension. Natural defenses to prolonged anxiety are depression or manic activity, designed to overcome the tension and the stress. This bi-polar defense to anxiety is not good, long term, for our mind or body.
Most of us are trapped in a mildly depressive state most of the time as a defense to anxiety in our lives. The management of emotional pain is the basis for social acceptance of anti depressants and amphetamines to moderate our moods. People often prefer to remain in a depressive state rather than resort to active self help measures to sort the problem out. The depressive way helps maintain stability – at cost of healthy change and healing.
Using drugs to elevate or lower your mood to escape anxiety can cause a rebound effect making you feel more intensely the feelings you try to avoid. Anxiety will resurface if conflicted issues are not dealt with.
Using holistic methods of conflict resolution with drug free holistic detox and rehab you can resolve emotional pain and become addiction free. Holistic methods are the way to emotional healing.
Author: National Addiction Resources
America's Best Treatment Directory
there is not a certain age group who gets PTSD. It happens when someone sees something or experiances something that they are unable to cope with. Such as soldiers coming back from war, there were higher numbers when the war first began since there was more fighting going on. though some still get it to this day. some people just cannot handle the things their eyes see.