“We deem those happy
who from the experience of life
have learnt to bear its ills without
being overcome by them.”
Carl Jung
Illness, Pain And Somatic Disorders
Numerous studies have convinced medical and clinical researchers that psychological factors, such as stress, worry, and perhaps even subconscious needs can contribute in many ways to bodily illness.
It is well known that psychological disorders frequently have physical cause. Abnormal neurotransmitter activity, for example, contributes to generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It therefore is not surprising that psychological factors can produce physical problems.
The American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) DSM-5 lists a number of psychological disorders where bodily symptoms are a primary feature of the disorder. These include: Factitious Disorder, a person’s less than honest description of physical ailments; Somatic Symptom Disorder in which people become disproportionately disturbed by various bodily symptoms; Illness Anxiety Disorder, an abnormal concern that a person is seriously ill despite the absence of bodily symptoms; and psychological factors affecting medical condition, i.e., any number of disorders that adversely affect a person’s general health, as in Sleep Disorders.
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Diet and Eating Disorders
Many people in the United States are nearly as obsessed with how much they eat as they are with the nutritional value. Both of these are extremely intelligent and rational approaches to eating. What is so unusual is that during the last three decades, while millions of people are getting trimmer, healthier and fit, we have also observed an increase in two disorders that have at their core an intense fear of weight gain.
People, primarily girls and women, are so convinced that they need to lose weight that they inadvertently starve themselves to death. Anorexia Nervosa often begins with puberty in an effort to lose a few extra pounds. First, by cutting out a few sweets and fattening snacks, but soon includes eliminating other foods and important nourishment. Some induce vomiting to purge the unwanted foods. Some move on to binge eating and purging – equally dangerous – resulting in dangerously low body weight.
Bulimia Nervosa, the binge-purge syndrome, again primarily by girls and women, is eating to excess much more than an average person would eat, only to then purge or use laxatives, also to excess. The weight with these individuals stays relatively normal or within an acceptable range, but they become severely under nourished, often accompanied by Amenorrhea, mood swings, self-blaming and guilt.
(c) Isha Sadhguru, The Isha Foundation. Used with permission.
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Substance Use And Addictive Disorders
Substance Use Disorder is an excessive and maladaptive pattern of reliance and repeated use of a substance and dependence. An excessive reliance accompanied by tolerance and withdrawal symptoms, have been combined into one category in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5.
The combined disorders center on excessive repeated use of alcohol or drugs – pharmaceutical or synthetic – that persist even with efforts to reduce or stop using, causing an interference with daily obligations or social activities, craving or desire to use, and withdrawal reactions.
The substances that people misuse include depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens and cannabis. Estimates of the number of people that display Substance Use Disorder vary widely but the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report that 8.9 percent of teens and adults – over 22 million people – display Substance Use Disorder. This doesn’t include millions who over-use prescription drugs or the millions of unborn children who are directly affected by substances consumed by their mothers during pregnancy.
Other Addictive Disorders included in this classification are described as addiction to behaviors and activities beyond ingested substances, including Gambling and Gaming Disorders and other problematic behaviors ranging from excessive and abnormal Internet Use to Smartphone Use.
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Disorders of Sex and Gender
Sexual Dysfunction whereby people cannot function normally affects an estimated 31 percent of men and 43 percent of women in the United States during their lifetime. These include not only deficiencies of sexual thoughts, desires, fantasies or arousal lasting six months or longer, they also include reduced sexual frequency, excitement, as well as disorders of orgasms. Some sexual dysfunctions make it difficult or impossible to have or fully enjoy satisfying sexual activity because of physical discomfort or pain.
Other disorders may include performance anxiety due to stress, attitudes, erective disorder, early ejaculation or substance use.
A wide range of sexual disorders include paraphilias, i.e., strong sexual urges or fantasies outside of usual norms of society, including objects, costumes, animals, children, humiliation, bondage, voyeuristic, exhibitionistic, sadistic, as well as numerous fetishes that cause the individual significant distress or impairment lasting six months or longer.
Since the advent of the internet, wide-spread pornography of every description, along with chatrooms, video messaging and social media have spawned an entirely new level of sexual disorders.
Also included in this category are topics of gender dysphoria, where children and adults are uncomfortable and distressed with the gender to which they were born, resulting in their extreme unhappiness.
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