The importance of knowing how to express our emotions in order not to become ill

These are the reasons why knowing how to express emotions helps to maintain good health.

The act of expressing our emotions is not only positive because it makes it easier for others to give us the help we need at times when we are most vulnerable.

It is also an excellent tool for self-knowledge and prevention of both psychological and physical disorders. Let's see why.

The relationship of emotions with diseases

First of all, let's see what is the relationship between the emotional facet of the human being and his predisposition to develop diseases. Many people are surprised to learn that there is this connection between the physical and the psychological, but if we think about it, how rare it would be for emotions and physical health to be separated..

After several centuries of scientific research and philosophical development, to say that the mind and the body are not two elements independent of each other is anything but revolutionary. Mental processes (including emotional ones) would not exist if they did not have as their biological basis the organism in which they take place: a nervous system, a set of circulating hormones, stimuli captured by the senses, etc.

But what do we know about the way in which emotions influence the appearance or non-appearance of diseases? For example, we now know that experiencing sustained high levels of anxiety weakens the immune system, which can trigger the onset of disease.which can trigger many health disorders, such as infections. In turn, there is evidence that one of the causes of depression consists of inflammatory processes whose influence reaches the brain, so that we even have an example of how the emotion-disease-emotion circle closes.

Similarly, certain emotions and feelings also predispose us to adopt patterns of behavior that expose us to disease: for example, boredom makes us more likely not to follow health recommendations and to resort to violence, and poorly regulated anger significantly increases the likelihood of injury.

On the other hand, emotional disturbances linked to low self-esteem and/or anxiety can lead to significant injuries or even a life-threatening lifestyle.. The clearest example of this is found in eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, and to a lesser extent, in disorders such as trichotillomania or onychophagia.

But even where there are no diagnosable psychological disorders, anxiety can facilitate the onset of health problems. For example, excessive stress is reflected in the rate of aging of the skin and in the predisposition to dermatological diseases, as well as in the frequent occurrence of Gastrointestinal problems (we must not forget that the intestines house an important network of neurons and hormone receptors, very sensitive to what happens in the brain).

Why it is necessary to express emotions

Is there anything we can do to prevent health problems through better management of our emotions? Of course there is; for example, psychotherapeutic support is very effective in this regard. in this regard. But there are also other routines and actions that we can incorporate into our daily lives to achieve this, and those that have to do with the correct expression of emotions are of special interest.

It has been shown that putting words to what we feel makes it much easier for us to maintain an adequate emotional balance. For example, writing about what worries us or generates stress has been shown to help people suffering from post-traumatic stress, with effects that last even several months after having done it for the last time. This phenomenon is based on what is known as emotional labeling, and helps us to improve our relationship with emotions through self-knowledge and habituation to those intense feelings and affections that in other situations would obsess us precisely because we do not know how to concretize or understand them. For this reason, emotional labeling is one of the most used resources in psychological therapy..

Are you looking for psychotherapy services?

If you are interested in professional psychological support to improve your ability to manage your emotions or to deal with problems such as trauma, mood disorders or low self-esteem, please contact us.

At PSiCOBAi we work using the most effective psychotherapy techniques for adults, children and adolescents. Puedes contar con nosotros ya sea a través de la modalidad de terapia online o bien en sesiones presenciales en nuestro centro de Majadahonda.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Dantzer R.; et al. (2008). From Inflammation to Sickness and Depression: When the Immune System Subjugates the Brain. Nature Reviews of Neuroscience, 9(1): pp. 46 - 56.
• Hemenover, S.H. (2003). The good, the bad, and the healthy: impacts of emotional disclosure of trauma on resilient self-concept and psychological distress. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1236 - 1244.
• McRae, K.; Taitano, E.K. & Lane, R.D. (2010). The effects of verbal labelling on psychophysiology: objective but not subjective emotion labelling reduces skin-conductance responses to briefly presented pictures. Cognition and Emotion, 24: pp. 829 - 839.
• Pfattheicher, S.; et al. (2020). I enjoy hurting my classmates: On the relation of boredom and sadism in schools. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/37ru9