MetaHealing - Emotional Health

Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms

Emotional Health
by Susan Eskdale

The equation of health and wellness includes three factors: physical, mental and emotional health. Often we forget the importance of emotional health with negative consequences for our overall health and wellness

Wellness needs to include physical, mental and emotional health to ensure the entire individual remains well.

For those of you who have the thought that mental and emotional health are the same thing, I would ask you to consider the following; an individual that you know has the ability to deal with all levels of stress in an effective manner, but you never see this individual lose his cool. In part that may be due to his desire to look like he is in complete control of his life, however, there is another possibility, this individual may be suffering from an emotional disorder.

What is an emotional disorder? Depending on whom you speak to you will collect a wide array of definitions, for the purpose of this article, let us put a simple definition in place. Emotional disorders are any reaction or action that does not allow an individual to admit his or her feelings regarding a situation.

From this definition, depression is not an emotional disorder. Depression is a mental and physical disorder, but the existence of emotional disorders can precipitate the onset of the depressed state.
You may have met a person that seemed to be devoid of any emotion, while this might seem like a good thing, it can be detrimental to the individual’s wellness. Suppression of emotion causes physical and mental consequences. An individual that refuses to admit when something bothers him or her leaves a type of emotional poison in his or her system. Left untended, these feelings can fester resulting in physical symptoms.

An individual that suffers from an ulcer may well be suffering from an underlying emotional disorder. When conventional medications are ineffective, it may be necessary to evaluate the patient’s lifestyle and emotional habits.

Counselling can be effective in determining what the underlying condition is. Once an individual is aware of the processes that precipitate the onset of the emotional distress he can develop a plan of treatment. Often, it will require medication to deal with the depressed state that has resulted from the emotional disorder before the individual will be able to clearly see the issue that is threatening emotional health.

Medications are not the answer for emotional distress; the individual has to be able to feel his or her way through the healing process. It is by allowing oneself to experience emotion that emotional health can be regained. By looking inwards, an individual can determine what emotional baggage has been stored in the memory of the body’s cells. Once one understands how denial of emotion can cause physical and mental illnesses, it often becomes an important part of preventative medicine.

Remember, emotions are the windows to our souls, if we allow our windows to become foggy we will not see the dangers that are visible to others.