Wellbeing from Within

Happiness and Health

Nobody is happy 24/7. Rather than a state of constant bliss, mental health is more like a balancing act that requires the processing and integration of constantly shifting emotions and moods, negative as well as positive.

The root meaning of the word health is wholeness. Mentally healthy people continually work at balancing and developing their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects. They feel generally purposeful, in control of their lives, committed to the work they do, supported by and supportive of the people around them.

Psychologists believe that events of our lives, even the most devastating hardships, have less influence on our mental health than does the way we respond to them. Survivors of traumatic events, such as concentration camp prisoners, victims of terrorist kidnappings, lost polar explorers, often report triumph over pain, fear and desolation through deliberate conditioning of their minds. Open-minded, hopeful attitudes seem to conquer adversity.

Negative, rigid and inflexible attitudes not only decrease ability to cope with the unavoidable stresses of life but can also prevent people from enjoying success and happiness to the full when they come.

The Role of Personality

It is believed that some personalities are more likely to develop certain illnesses than others, as in being impatient or competitive make you more likely to develop heart disease or a stomach ulcer. However, there is no simple answer to that.

It used to be thought that having a so-called Type A personality - hard-working, impatient, demanding - was indeed a risk factor for some stress-related illnesses. Now, however, it appears that there is some good news for Type As: some of the characteristics associated with forceful, ambitious personalities appear to be assets, rather than detriments, to health. While hostile, aggressive Type A behaviour is certainly still a risk factor for heart disease, doctors now make distinctions between Type As who are angry and socially isolated and those who despite other Type A characteristics are able to develop supportive relationships in families and with friends.

Having a Type A or a more easygoing Type B personality seems to have less of an impact on your wellbeing and mental health than whether or not you are a psychologically 'hardy' person with a well-developed sense of identity, who feels in charge of life, enjoys it and sees changes as opportunities rather than threats. Such people are also less likely to develop stress-related illnesses such as ulcers and high blood pressure.

People who do develop ulcers and similar illnesses, however, do not necessarily lead more stressful lives than anyone else, but they do appear to react to their problems more negatively. They may also find it more difficult to give expression to their true feelings, which remain bottled up until they erupt in the form of physical symptoms or emotions like anger or depression. Unlike more hardy types, so-called pressure-sensitive people do not see themselves as in control of their lives. Easily overwhelmed, they tend to be emotionally dependent and often feel exhausted, helpless and hopeless. They are also more likely to become depressed.

Fortunately, hardiness is something that anyone can work at acquiring, whatever their personality type. Face life with a positive attitude, maintain a variety of interests, express your true feelings and nurture friendships and family relationships, and you will be well on the way.

Expressing Emotions

Men and women experience similar feelings but often show them differently. In a study of self-description, men and women revealed about the same amount of information, but the women's revelations were much more intimate. Despite of social changes, it still seems that women express feelings more readily.

However, there appear to be two exceptions: anger and sexual arousal. In a designated experiment where men and women were presented with situations that annoy them, men became angry but women said they felt hurt, disappointed or sad. When played erotic videos, almost half the women denied being at all aroused, while all the men reported a sexual response. Social expectations, it seems, still make some men suppress sadness and some women conceal anger and sexuality.

Psychologists believe that such limitations are bad for both sexes. Men may be damaged by losing touch with softer emotions; while women suffer from 'personalising' the difficulties they experience and blaming themselves unduly. Such different perceptions complicate communication between men and women.

Mental Illnesses/Disorders: Differences between Psychosis and Neurosis

Behaviour and mental processes have to be more than unusual to be considered a sign of disorder:

1. They have to be destructive (to the person or others).
2. They to interfere significantly with the person's ability to function in a society.

Psychosis and neurosis are two main categories of mental disorder. Psychoses are serious illnesses, such as schizophrenia or paranoia, that involve loss of contact with reality and extreme abnormality of feelings, thoughts and actions. Psychotic patients are unable to cope with daily life and require intensive treatment, sometimes in hospital.

Neurosis is a general, rather vague term for nonpsychotic mental disorders that leave the person's sense of reality intact but are still highly disruptive in daily life. They include depression, panic and anxiety attacks, compulsions, phobias, hypochondria and physical symptoms, such as blindness or paralysis, without a physical cause.

Mental illness is also categorised as either organic - connected with a brain disorder such as a stroke or tumour - or functional - affecting mental functions but without a physical cause. Psychologists also recognise so-called personality disorders - such as a psychopathic or schizoid (highly eccentric) personality. In some ways, these are more like learning or developmental problems than mental illnesses.

Moreover, it is believed that after severe stress, mentally healthy people can temporarily show symptoms of illnesses such as depression and anxiety. This is not the same as having such an illness, since the cause is clear and the condition resolves naturally.