Why can one person get so angry that he loses his temper in the face of an event, while another person can maintain his composure in the face of the same event? Why is taking the elevator an ordinary activity for some of us, while for others it is an activity that makes us break out in a cold sweat and is avoided?
In this section, we explain two issues that have an important place in each of our lives - emotion and stress - and the connection between these two and health. we will try. Each of us experiences that many negative emotions lead to stress, and many stressful events cause negative emotions. In order to better understand this cycle, we will try to evaluate the issue of emotion and stress by looking at it from different psychological perspectives. First of all, we will touch upon important points about the biological connection between the brain and the body. Then, we will draw attention to how our perceptions and beliefs affect us, and finally, we will examine the impact of situational states and cultural experiences on us.
The Source of Our Emotions
Emotion literally means “an emotional state experienced subjectively.” "It is an observable behavior structure that has an external expression" (Budak, Selçuk, 2000). If we did not have emotions, we would not be able to love our parents, we would not be sad when we break up with someone we love, in short, we would be a human being defined as a robot. Our relationships would become deaf and our lives would become monotonous. So where does the source of the emotional world we live with at every moment come from? We can explain it this way. If we compare emotion to a house, the biological structure of emotion represents the foundation of the house, our thoughts and meanings represent the skeleton of the house, and our culture represents the furnished rooms of the house. Every healthy person is born with the ability to feel on a biological basis. He acquires thought and belief patterns from his family and close environment. And as it grows, it adds culture to this equipment and completes its emotional structure.
Considering the impact of our culture on our emotions, the legacies of our own culture are remarkable. When we examine these emotional patterns by comparing them with other cultures, we see that cultures have different perspectives on making sense of emotional expression. For example, in one culture, shaking the head from left to right means no, while the same emotional expression means no. ka may mean yes in one culture. The human face, on the other hand, uses 80 separate facial muscles to express emotions. Moreover, while people use a certain set of muscles to express their true emotions, they use another set of facial muscles when they want to hide their true emotions. Our facial expressions not only express our mood, but also help us communicate with others. And depending on the emotion we reflect, a certain interpretation occurs on the other side. For example, when we smile, we express that we are happy.
If we take a look at our brain's relationship with our emotions, we see that emotional expression has many different dimensions. Many issues such as perceiving the other person's emotion, making sense of this emotion, and feeling this emotion are related to our brain. When it comes to emotions, the 2 halves of the brain appear to play different roles. While the left hemisphere of the brain is used for positive emotions such as happiness, the left half of the brain is used for negative emotions such as fear and sadness. A person whose left hemisphere is damaged as a result of an accident may experience emotions such as anger or depression, while someone whose right side of the brain is damaged may experience laughter. In recent years, the amygdala has also been found to play an important role in emotions. It is thought that the amygdala is responsible for interpreting the information coming from perceptions, determining the emotional significance of these perceptions, and developing a perspective on the person or situation accordingly (LeDoux, 1994, 1996). If the amygdala or cortex is damaged, the person may experience emotional abnormalities. For example, a person with a damaged amygdala has difficulty evaluating a scary event and developing the feeling of fear.
Hormones are responsible for the development of emotional energy. The most important task of hormones is to prepare the body to act quickly in the face of sudden events. Adrenal Gland secretes epinephrine and norepinephrine against dangers in the environment.
The Connection between Emotion and Mind
What causes us to feel what we feel? What would happen if we were injected with a hormone that would psychologically alarm us while we were sitting in an empty room? The answer to these questions is given in two ways. Accordingly, emotion theory, psychological emotional state and the It is based on cognitive evaluation. It is normal for people to sometimes feel things that are inappropriate for their situation. The reason for this is that the person perceives this physiological order differently and makes an incorrect attribution. On the other hand, the fact that babies cannot feel shame until they reach a certain cognitive maturity is also related to the cognitive aspect of the issue. Today, most emotion theorists think that attributions, beliefs and the meaning people develop towards events play a fundamental role in the emergence of emotion.
Emotion and Culture
We have mentioned that some emotional expressions differ from culture to culture. Some emotions do not change from culture to culture. Psychologists have identified these emotional expressions as fear, anger, sadness, amusement, surprise, disgust and contempt. These emotions are universal and biological in origin. These emotions that develop after certain events (such as the feeling of sadness after losses, the feeling of fear in the face of danger) are primary emotions. In this case, emotional expressions whose meanings vary from culture to culture can also be defined as secondary emotions.
Body language also helps us express our emotions by supporting facial expressions. Mimics and gestures also play an important role in shaping and diversifying emotional expression.
Source of Stress
A life without stress is actually not possible. In each of our lives, there are contradictions that disturb us and situations that we have to endure because we have no power to change. So, do these stressful situations have anything to do with our diseases or health? Can we ensure our health and well-being by controlling our emotional reactions to events? As a result of the research, three different stages have been identified as stress enters our lives. The first of these steps is the alarm phase, which represents the moment when stress is first encountered. The second phase is the resistance phase and corresponds to the period of trying to cope with the stressful event. During this period, the body tries to adapt and returns to normal. In the last step, there is the fatigue phase. A person feels exhausted after a while, especially against chronic stress sources. Selye's research on this subject are important. From his point of view, chronic stress puts the body on alert, which means that after a while the body, which is constantly on alert, becomes weak and tired. A tired body has a higher risk of contracting disease than a healthy body.
Some stressful events affect a person's health more than others. The general feature of these stressors is that they affect the person's nervous system, digestive system and internal secretions. The most important of these sources of stress is loss. Losing a loved one or a close relationship due to death or divorce is the heaviest stress that can be experienced. It can be said that unhappy marriages contain a source of stress similar to that experienced by divorced couples.
When people express that they live under stress, they generally complain about inconsiderate people in their daily lives, traffic congestion, endless homework, and work that needs to be delivered but is not completed. Noisy, crowded and controversial environments are the most stressful ones.
It is known that people with low socioeconomic levels have worse health and higher mortality rates. While the reasons for this can be such as not having the necessary medical care, not being well fed, etc., the gang groups they live in, month-end thoughts, etc. are also psychological reasons.
All of the stressors we have discussed so far are actually risk factors for human psychology, None of them directly cause disease or affect everyone at the same rate. Psychologists who approach the situation from this perspective further develop Selye's theory and argue that chronic stress sources cause psychological reactions, and that the person's psychological characteristics and perceptions come into play. They also argue that instead of discussing whether these psychological reactions cause health or disease, the person's coping mechanisms should be mentioned (Taylor, 1995). From this more detailed perspective; Psychological stress is the interaction between the person and the situation, and as a result of the person's evaluation of the event, it is decided that there is a situation that exceeds the person's ability to cope. It occurs as a result of giving
When a person's coping skills are investigated, we can say that people are generally divided into two. It can be said that people with a pessimistic perspective tend to look at the bad side of events, while optimistic people focus more on the good aspects of events. In this case, what is better for one's health is to be optimistic. Pessimists; Personally, they have lower self-confidence, a less successful life, more illnesses and a slower recovery time from trauma. On the contrary, optimists show high self-esteem and self-confidence, a successful life, and the ability to recover more quickly after trauma. Optimism; It has another cognitive feature in terms of psychological and physical health. This means that the person's locus of control is within himself. When a person has the belief that he can control events, he can endure a stressful situation for much longer. It has been determined that this sense of control varies greatly from culture to culture. In Western societies, people generally choose the primary control mechanism. If a situation bothers you, “change, deal with and fight” is their general perspective. So people try to redefine reality by changing other people. People born and raised in Eastern society tend to adopt the secondary control system. These people, who try to define reality by changing their own perspectives and demands, act with the perspective of "either you herd this camel or you leave this land." And this is what society expects from them.
Emotion, Stress and Health: How Should We Cope?
Soldiers who live a very stressful life under the threat of death and low living conditions on the battlefields suffer from constant chronic stress. Most of the people who have to endure the resources and stress of similar situations are still healthy. In this section, we will focus on how these people achieve this situation by following a coping method or by compensating for what is happening in their lives. The first thing to do when trying to cope with psychological stressors and negative emotions is to calm down. And to calm down
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