The role of the Mind in Body Health
The role of the Mind in Body Health
The role of the Mind in Body Health
Health - is a term we use daily with the notion that it evokes the same meaning in everyone, according to its context. But it might actually be hugely beneficial to the intense Health-care debates, to ponder what conditions amount to a healthy person. In colloquial usage of Health we tacitly understand Health to mean Physical Health, because only Physical Health is measured and expressed by normative numericals in the realm of scientific consensus.
This makes us to all but ignore the fact well documented, that Physical Health, which is defined as the absence of detectable illness, is only that part of Health which can be easily articulated But the symptoms of the evident loss of Physical Health is just the final stage of a disorder in one of the 5 non-physical health constituents, which in balanced combination comprise the so-called Holistic (Wholistic) Health. However, the term "Holistic Health" lacks a universally acceptable definition, because no one really knows how to weigh and quantify each of the five non-physical Health elements: Mental Health, Emotional Health, Spiritual Health, Social Health and Intellectual Health. While the role of each one of these constituents is being analyzed in separate articles, here we'll search for common grounds in understanding the function of the Mind.
The subject of Mental Health has filled entire libraries; it is the most notable element of Total Health, or Optimal Health, next to Physical Health, yet its definition is far from unanimous. The WHO (World Health Organization) defines Mental Health as: "a being of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community". This seems to be the result of a compromise after endless bickering of member nations. We may wonder about the practical use of such "Definitions", but it drives home the point that Mental Health rarely evokes an identical common understanding even among people from the same culture. Just how subjective are terms like: "realizes his or her own abilities"? Is my rating of my abilities mirrored by society? Then: "can cope with the normal stresses of life" - who is there to define "normal"? Who is setting the standard for "productive and fruitful work"? And finally: what about "contribution to his or her community" - is there a benchmark and who is setting it?
The NIH (U.S. National Institute of Health) posts a refreshingly simple definition on its Medline Plus web site: "Mental Health is how we think, feel and act as we cope with life. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices." But then comes the scary part as it continues: "Mental illnesses are common - they affect about one in five families in the U.S. It is not your fault if you have one. These disorders - depression, phobias, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and many others - are real diseases"...
Really? Does that mean 20% of the U.S. population is mentally impaired? The "NIMH" (National Institute of Mental Health) may deliver an explanation, as they add to the above, conditions like Eating Disorders, Borderline Personality Disorders "BPD" (ever heard of that illness?), ADD and ADHD, and so on. In that light, 20% seems actually a low number. Scary nonetheless, if these are "clinically diagnosed" cases, who diagnosed them and by what measures? Could the pharmaceutical industry have something to do with this? What about the phenomenal growth rate of drugs like Prozac, Ritalin, or the amphetamines Adderal, Dexedrine, Benzedrine, Desoxyn? According to CESAR web site (Center for Substance Abuse Research) sales of Ritalin in the U.S. increased by 500% in eight years! Antidepressants Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil are among the top ten revenue generating drugs in the U.S. and if you turn on the TV you can witness aggressive direct to consumer advertising of "Mental Health" drugs. According to Science Daily (Aug.4, 2009) "Antidepressants are now the most commonly prescribed class of medications in the United States. (...) Between 1996 and 2005, the rate of antidepressant treatment increased from 5.84 percent to 10.12 percent or from an estimated 13.3 million to 27 million individuals."
While the scope of this article is the attempt to position Mental Health as a vital element of overall Health, better understood as Vitality, we have to consider the commercial interests that drive and subsequently distort the assessment of the individual Health elements. It is ll known that drugs are prescribed to treat Physical illness, based on analyzed symptoms. The standards used for analysis are normative (see article on Physical Health) at least to a degree that is reproducible and objective by numerical values produced by biochemistry analyzers.
How is Mental Health analyzed and expressed, what are the objective standards that determine depression? How can a person be mentally screened by the definition of the WHO? What then are the standardized criteria that lead to a Healthy versus Non-Healthy verdict? But even the NIH definition fails to give us confidence: "how we think, feel and act as we cope with life" - is obviously a highly volatile condition that can change daily. To base a judgment on a single day's feeling and action is akin to deciding on a surgery based on a single blood sample - with potentially far reaching consequences. While we generally accept the Medical Doctor as the authority to decide over Physical Health, in Mental Health the authority question becomes murky: will the Medical Doctor, the Psychiatrist, the Psychologist and the Theologian agree on the same diagnosis, let alone therapy?
These questions give a whole new meaning to Holistic Health and Mind-Body interaction, a term which is commonly understood to refer to: the person being treated as one or a "whole being", where body, mind and spirit constitute the wholeness. In light of the ambiguities, it is little surprising that even the term Holistic Health is stigmatized. No one doubts the existence of mind-body interaction, but in absence of an acceptable normative assessment, Holistic Health can't be established as a Health-care discipline. Then - again - there is the impediment of commercial interests' interference and distortion: First, the prescription drugs that are taken for Physical symptoms, often cause adverse effects on the person's Mental state. If the Mental Health of a person on prescription drugs is assessed, it is most assuredly different. Second, the pharmaceutical industry has discovered Mental Health as an unlimited revenue source, and is frolicking over the lack of normative definitions. Analysis of pharmaceutical sales statistics imply that a lot of people are being treated that a few years ago would have been considered perfectly Healthy. It is not far-fetched to suspect the industry lobby to have invented some of the "Mental pathologies" that were completely unknown just a few generations ago.
It follows that Mental Health should never be analyzed without considering the other 5 constituents that comprise a person's Health and Vitality as these are highly interdependent. In addition, we have to consider the person's lifestyle, in particular the exposure to toxic chemicals in food, water, air, household and workplace; as these are known to have profound effects on Body and Mind.
Finally, one may be declared Healthy for the absence of Physical Symptoms, while being depressed or otherwise mentally challenged. But unresolved mental trauma will eventually manifest in physical symptoms. A person who is inflicted by mental distress can usually be recognized by a lack of Vitality. In contrast, if we acknowledge a vivacious person's great Vitality, we infer a "great state of mind" even if the person may battle a physical illness; and there are plenty of studies that confirm the valuable healing effects of a great state of mind.
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