The Answer is No!

Cicero, the great Roman philosopher once said “The diseases of the mind are more numerous and more destructive than those of the body”. It is not mere philosophy but a medical truth also that nervous problems are more common than all other illnesses combined. There is long list of physical and mental sufferings, which are not rooted in organic dysfunction caused by viral or bacterial infections. Instead, they are caused by one’s own negative thinking–fear, anxiety, insecurity, anger, feeling of deprivation, loneliness, boredom, jealousy, purposelessness or for that matter any thinking that evokes an unpleasant feeling in a person. 

It is among these Negative Thinkers that you will find hysterics, chain smokers, alcoholics, drug addicts, sleep-walkers, insomniacs, cynics, chronic scoffers, nagging husbands or wives, too fat or too thin, obsessive-compulsive people suffering many manias and phobias, and people suffering from ulcer, high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes to count only a few. In fact a new terminology has come to describe the ailments caused by the negative thinking. They are now called “Emotionally Induced Diseases”.

EMOTIONALLY
INDUCED DISEASES.

• Headaches, 

• Backaches,

• Ulcers,

• Hypertension,

• Rashes,

• Skin eruptions,

• Cramps,

• Fleeting pains,

• Ear, Nose and Throat problems

• Depression; are some of the most common afflictions we inflict upon ourselves by our lack of Rational and Emotional maturity.  

In what way our
Rational and Emotional Maturity
Becomes a Determinant of Our Health?

The sole purpose of this brief write up is to answer this crucial question by explaining to you the correlation that exists between Negative Thinking, Happiness and Health.

OUR BODY
THE BEST CHEMICAL FACTORY

In order to understand the nature and causes of EIDs, we must understand the role and functioning of the GLANDS–the chemical factories that nature has placed inside us. Each gland is a wonderful factory producing the chemical–the hormone–we need for the growth, repair and maintenance of our body and mind or in other words to keep us physically and mentally fit. In a happy and healthy person, the production of hormones in these factories is normal and well balanced. But if a person is ill or emotionally surcharged, some of these glands over supply the hormones while other produce less in order to cope with the ailment, be it a physiological disorder or emotional stress and strain. Let us take a few examples of how our glands help us to cope with some commonly experienced emotions like FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS, FRUSTRATION etc

	Have you observed that whenever you are confronted with a sudden danger, (real or imaginary) there is a strange feeling in your stomach. Why? Because your adrenal glands are supplying you an extra dose of hormone to cope with the situation. They are giving you extra energy to prepare you for any quick action. Recall your mental and physical state when you had gone into a fit of anger–pounding heart, red face, hardened muscles, 'butterflies' in the stomach, sweating etc. Why this metamorphosis? Again, all these changes are brought about by your adrenal glands. Whenever you are angry, they release a hormone that sends blood to your brain, eyes and muscles where it is needed. They shut down your digestion for the time being so that the parts of body involved in anger get more blood. What happens when you cry, when you are sad or suddenly meet with an unexpected joy? The answer lies again in the hormonic support of your glands by supplying you the very special hormones (tears), for helping to cope with such situations.
	The Pancreas, is a large digestive organ located below the liver. It produces strong digestive juices neccessary for assimilation of food. It's one small portion known as the "tail" of the pancreas has an entirely different function, for it belong to endocrine glandular system. It secretes two hormones, insulin and glucagon. Insulin has much to do with the metabolism of the body. It is produced in the beta cells of the pancreas. Insulin is the powerful hormone that aids the body in strong nutriment, instead of allowing it to drain away in the urine.
	Located right in the middle of the head behind the eyes and above the nose, is a tiny organ no larger than a good-sized pea. This is the pituitary gland, in some respects the most important endocrine glands in the body. It takes orders in part from the central nervous system. The pituitary produces many different hormones, most of them direct the activities of the other endocrine glands of the body.
	If you place your fingers on the front of your neck just below the larynx or “Adam apple” you may feel a small mass of butterfly-shaped tissues on each side of your windpipe. This is the Thyroid Gland.
	Just behind the thyroid gland on each side of the neck, there are several tiny pin-sized organs known as Parathyroid.

It is now an established fact that a person’s emotions affect his digestive processes. People who are tense, nervous and those who are short tempered and always feel a little angry make more hydrochloric acid than people who are calm and easy-going. The overproduction of hydrochloric acid not only adversely affect the digestive system but is also a potential cause of the peptic ulcer.

Then there are certain Functional (psychosomatic) Diseases, which are not organic diseases but caused purely by the negative feelings or by the situations that we wish to avoid. In fact, the state of brain and nerves are the main cause of the functional diseases. In some persons, (mostly weak and sentimental) their mind unknowingly tells the body to mimic a disease whenever they are confronted with some unpleasant situations. Accordingly, though the body organs remain in order, they start functioning badly. You must have observed some children getting sick during the examination days. Why? Because of anxiety. You might have seen some people who get sick just before going to their jobs. Why? Because they are pushed to and not pulled by their jobs because they don’t like it. It is not uncommon for individuals to become mysteriously sick when confronted with some difficult circumstances or to postpone an illness when becoming sick is simply not warranted by the circumstances they are in, and collapse soon after when they are out of those circumstances.

Our Emotions 
Controls Their Supply

In essence, the various glands in our body either over supply or stop the supply of certain hormones for enabling us to overcome any physical or emotional strain. What we must understand very clearly is the fact that each of such occasions creates a hormonic imbalance in our body chemistry. If the frequency and the duration of such episodes is once in a while, no harm is done to our body as the chemical balance is restored as soon as the episode is over. But once these once-in-a-while turns into a habitual state, it first destroys our happiness and then our health.

Research is still on to establish as to what type of emotional stress gives which type of Emotionally Induced Disease. For example, they suggest that a perpetual state of boredom and loneliness can cause skin rashes and itching. A prolonged state of worry and anxiety may cause ulcers. An unending sense of insecurity in matrimonial life may induce arthritis in ladies in middle age. Losing the sense of purpose may lead to acute depression. In sum and substance, what these researches are underlining is a basic truth that a constant state of tension and unhappiness is the mother of not one but many diseases some of which have been listed in the beginning of this chapter. It is also an aggravator of perhaps all diseases in general, and Diabetes, Blood Pressure, and Arthritis, in particular.

Don't Abuse 
Your Supportive System

The wisdom demands from us that we bridle our negative emotions by developing our potential rational and emotional maturity–the twin qualities the Mother Nature has given to distinguish us from animals. The good news is that most of the physical diseases are now cured much before the hormonic or chemical imbalance created by them could give us secondary diseases. Ironically, it is the unhealthy attitude towards life–negative feelings either about others or about our own self– that most of us are unable to control. As a result, quite a few of us live under a perpetual state of dissatisfactions, disappointments and unhappiness. And the bad news is that this unhealthy attitude has assumed the status of an epidemic these days. Yet it is the negativism in life that has to be controlled for remaining Healthy and Happy. The need is obvious; the control is difficult.

The Need

As has been stated earlier, each negative feeling is a push button for the chemical factories–the glands in our body. If a person lives under a perpetual state of one or more invalid emotional stresses, he/she is overtaxing his/her chemical factories by making demands on them to over secrete certain hormones. And for understanding the consequences of such overtaxing, you don’t require the knowledge of medical science but only commonsense, which tells us in quite unambiguous terms that no system–be it nature-made or man-made can work for long beyond its designed capacity.

		The Cure

The cure of Emotionally Induced Diseases begins with the realization that EIDs, as the very name suggests, are self-afflictions, which only the immature and the weak personalities impose upon themselves. Remember that it is our mind (brain) that controls the production of the chemical factories that the nature has located inside of our bodies. In turn, the SELF–the ‘I’ in us–controls our mind. And the SELF is made and developed by the LEARNING we undergo in the school of life. The learning gives us our perception–our unique way of looking and interpreting reality. There is an old saying that Beauty lies in the eye of its beholder. Similarly what makes us happy and unhappy lies in our mind’s eye–the perception or our first stage thinking. Appreciate the hidden wisdom behind the Shakespearean dictum: “Nothing is good or bad but our thinking make it so”. HOW?

For understanding it, you must know the basic difference between the physical and psychological transactions that take place every day in our lives. In physical transactions, there is only:

ACTION––REACTION.

Somebody hits you–the action–and it would cause pain in your body–a natural reaction irrespective of the motive of the hit. But the psychological transactions are not that simple and straight. Instead of two-staged they are three-staged transactions involving:

ACTION––INTERPRETATION––REACTION.

 What makes us happy or unhappy, comfortable or uncomfortable, relaxed or stressed, hopeful or hopeless, enthusiastic or depressed and such other dichotomous feelings depends entirely on our interpretation of each situation/transaction. If interpreted negatively or irrationally they are bound to bring us unhappiness.

By becoming unhappy,
you suffer two harm: The one over which
you did not have any control and the other, the
loss of your happiness over which you have full control.

Wisdom Redefined