The Body under Stress
Think of the common expressions that unite mind and body:
• My heart was in my mouth.
• I was so frightened, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
• I was scared stiff.
• He makes my blood run cold.
• I was shocked.
These expressions indicate the relationship that exists between the mental/emotional state of a person and the workings of his body. For a better understanding of how this relationship functions, we must turn to the physician.
O. Spurgeon English, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Temple University School of Medicine, speaks from long study of this relationship between mind and body. He tells us that there are certain emotional centers in the brain that are linked to the entire body through the autonomic nervous system. He describes charges of emotions that are relayed from the brain, down the spinal cord, and through the autonomic nerves to the blood vessels, muscle tissues, mucous membranes, and skin.
Under emotional stress, he points out, all parts of the body can be subject to physical discomfort because of a change in blood nourishment, glandular function, or muscle tone (The Autonomic Nervous System, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals).
You may have wondered, How can thoughts and feelings going through my mind cause pain in some part of my body far from my brain? Dr. English explains: An emotion such as fear can cause the mouth to become dry. This means that the blood vessels have constricted and the blood supply and glandular activity have been reduced. This dryness will occur, for example, in someone who must make a speech and is afraid.
Various emotions which have their source in the brain find their way through definite pathways to the stomach. When a troublesome person can’t be coped with, we say we can’t “stomach” him–and that may be literally true. O. Spurgeon English, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Temple University School of Medicine, points out that a poorly functioning personality can be the reason for disorders of the digestive tract. (Drawing used by permission of O. Spurgeon English.)
Laboratory tests show that under emotional stress the same decrease in glandular activity occurs in the mucous membrane and various parts of the digestive tract. Not only does the blood supply change markedly, but secretions of various types increase or decrease in an abnormal manner. Changes in muscle tone in the digestive region can occur, causing painful cramps. It has also been proven that emotional stress will increase the size of the blood vessels in the head: this change in turn produces pain because of the stretching of the tissues around the blood vessels and their pressure on the nerve endings. Of the heart, Dr. English says:
Without the presence of any heart disease whatever, psychosomatic patients are prone to increased heart rate, irregularities of rhythm, unusual sensations about the heart such as oppression, tightening, pain, and numbness sometimes accompanied by shortness of breath and the feeling of faintness and weakness, possibly giddiness. Along with this so-called “spell” there may be a general “all-gone” feeling, free perspiration, accompanied by a sinking sensation and the feeling as if the patient would fall in a heap (Psychosomatic Disorders of the Heart, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals).
Joe Johnson collapsed at work and was rushed to a hospital, apparently a heart attack victim. But he had been having some social problems. For one thing, he and his wife were experiencing acute troubles. Then a neighbor acquired a dog that barked all night. Soon a promotion put him under more pressure. The last straw was the need to provide housing for his elderly parents. Why did he collapse? Because he was not adjusting happily to his life situation.
Dr. English points out that a poorly functioning personality can be the reason for psychosomatic disorders of the digestive tract:
For decades it has been known that a personality problem which cannot be solved by the mind itself is prone to be “turned over” or “taken up” by some other part of the body. When an irritating friend or a troublesome family member cannot be coped with, the patient becomes “sick,” he can’t “stomach” it, or it “gripes” him. The physician knows that the cause of these gastrointestinal disturbances is emotional conflict. He knows it is the attitudes of generosity and responsibility struggling with an opposing wish to escape them (The Emotional Cause of Symptoms, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals).
His description of the conflict within a person is surprisingly like the one the Apostle Paul presented in Galatians 5:17, PH: “For the whole energy of the lower nature is set against the Spirit, while the whole power of the Spirit is contrary to the lower nature. Here is the conflict, and that is why you are not free to do what you want to do.” The physician and the Bible describe the same problem–the struggle between what ought to be done and the contrary wish to evade it.
The physical effects of this conflict are often referred to as “nerves.” “My nerves are shot,” a woman says. “I’m on edge,” explains another person.
Just what is meant by a “nervous disorder”?
The human nervous system may be compared to a large telephone network. Through sensory nerves, the brain, like a central telephone exchange, receives messages or sensations; through motor nerves, orders or impulses are sent out to the muscles so that action may be executed.
Consider the effect of a pistol shot. The sound waves enter the ear, then travel as sensory impulses to the brain and then to the muscles in the arms and legs, to the heart, lungs and intestines, resulting in a rapid heartbeat, increased rate of breathing, and alterations in the functioning of the intestines. The nervous system did not cause the fright, but served to alert the body to a sudden change that hinted of danger.