A Healthy Personality is Vital in Effective Human Functioning.

By Abdul Mujeeb khan:

Talking too much brings the conversation to frequent shifts from one subject matter to another, without going in-depth in one, even when it would be necessary. Such behavioral manifestation would characterize a manic personality trait. There are those who can be very nice at one time and suddenly become upset and start shouting moments later, which typifies a borderline personality disorder. Excessively talking about self and one’s achievement peppered with constant praising about self is true of narcissistic people. Constant blaming of self and frequent eliciting of negative reactions toward situations reveals a depressive personality. Being always charged to fight combined with restlessness and fears are true to people beset with anxiety disorder.

The above mentioned are some traits that can be considered pathological at certain levels. In Psychology, personality disorders are listed under a separate category which classifies the disorders in clusters. Pathological traits such as mentioned above are also associated with other mental disorders including mood and thought disorders. There are certain criteria used to evaluate these personality disorders. But one essential criterion is the lack of insight and or awareness of the person’s undesirable traits, and when such is the case, then it is most likely that he or she is functioning in a severely disturbed pathological state. It is important to note that in most cases, these traits may have been existing in a person for a long period of time but can remain undiscovered; thereby availing professional help becomes an unlikely option. It is also important to be aware that skill deficiencies, e.g., language, reading, technical, etc., are not personality disorders.

One interesting question that remains unanswered until this time, relates to why these traits develop in some individuals while they do not in others. Other professionals would offer explanations by invoking psychological stress as a predisposing factor that would bring disorders in personality. However, most of the physiological illnesses, such as cardiovascular, diabetes, etc., also occur due to psychological stress, besides physiological causes as well.

How can we overcome these incapacitating traits? The good news is that modern psychotherapy (such as talk therapy) and professional counseling are deemed to help people effectively manage their life again.

Stress is the Mother of all modern illnesses! By Abdul Mujeeb Khan

Stress effects every one of us in different levels. A high level of stress is that phenomenon which we call “modern plague”. Today’s world’s high volume of information influx in our lives along with technology advancement brings tremendous psychological pressure in our minds. On one hand, our world is faced with crisis such as poverty and serious health hazards, while on the other hand, material gains and a desire to supersede each other in every field would even deprive us of the chance to ponder over all these elements, which are bound to adversely affect our psychological health. Every day bombardment of advertisement of new products promises to make our lives easier than ever before but at the same time, it is creating a ‘rat race culture where our social problems have gotten more complicated. High level of stress is not only harmful to our physical health but it affects greatly our mental health. While one can’t just remove stress in his/her day-to-day life completely, however, with conscious efforts, he/she can bring down the level of stress in his/her life.

Hans Selye, the first researcher on stress, was able to trace exactly what happens in our body during stress. He found that any problem, imagine or real, can cause the cerebral cortex (thinking part of the brain) to send an alarm to hypothalamus (the main switch for the stress response located in the mid brain). The hypothalamus then stimulates the sympathetic nerves system to make a series of changes in our body. Your heart rate, breathing rate, muscles tension, metabolism, and blood pressure all increases. Your hands and feet get cold as blood is directed away from your extremities and digestive system into the larger muscle that can help you fight or run. You experience butterflies in your stomach. Your diaphragm and your anus lock. Fortunately, the same mechanism that turns the stress response on can turn it off. This is called the relaxation response. As soon as you decide that the situation is no longer dangerous, your brain stops sending emergency signals to your brain stem, which in turn ceases to send panic messages to your nervous system. Three minutes after you shut off, the danger signals the fight or flight response burnout. Your metabolism, heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension, and blood pressure all return to normal levels. In the 19th century, many researchers on stress focused on internal bodily changes due to external factors. For example financial crisis, unemployment, work place stress, divorce, etc., are environmental factors which damage greatly our internal body mechanism.

In the past 60 years, researchers are constantly trying to find the relationship between stress and physical illnesses. Their findings suggest that different people get to be effected by stress differently. For example, chronic stress can result in muscle tension and fatigue for some people. For others, it can contribute to stress hypertension, migraine, headache, ulcers, or chronic diarrhea. Stress not only effects badly our” immune system” but almost every system in our body. Suppression of the reproduction system can cause amenorrhea (cessation of menstruation) and failure to ovulate in women, impotency in men, and loss of sexual desire in both. Stress-triggered changes in lungs increase the symptoms of asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory conditions. Loss of insulin during the stress response may be a factor in the onset of adult diabetes. Stress suspends tissue repair and remodeling, which in turn causes decalcification of the bones, osteoporosis, and susceptibility to fractures. A prolonged stress response can worsen conditions such as arthritis, chronic pain, and Heart disease.

Psychologically, stress produces many disorders, i.e., “Anxiety” in which a person is always preoccupied with fearful thoughts that something bad is going to happen, sleep disorder, etc. “Depression” is another example of stress response in which someone loses his/her interest in every thing and he/she may have wishes for death. Fortunately, in the past many years, behavioral scientists have discovered many techniques which help individuals for stress elimination, such as psychotherapy, stress management training, relaxation therapy, worry control training, and coping skills. The magnitude of the effects on us of the ‘Mother of all modern illnesses’ is largely depends upon how we think, behave, act, and react.

(Source: The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook, 5th Ed by Marth Davis, Ph.D. and colleague)

Abdul Mujeeb Khan is a freelance writer.