Whenever I have consulted a newspaper or news website over the years, I have often come across news stories explaining how so many people suffer mentally and emotionally. What often emerges is that these people’s lives are being derailed by anxiety, depression and/or suicidal feelings.
After hearing stuff like this, I’m rarely surprised by what’s here. One of the reasons for this is that I think society is dysfunctional, so I think it’s more surprising if someone doesn’t have mental and emotional problems than if someone does.
A number of factors
What plays a big role in someone’s mental and emotional as an adult is what their early years were like. If this was a time when they were abused and/or neglected, it may be normal for them to suffer as adults.
The problem is that even if this was a time when they didn’t get what they needed to grow and develop in the right way, it doesn’t mean that they will really realize this. They could have created all kinds of defenses, defenses that would have been created to allow them to survive their early years.
The symptoms
Having an unenriching childhood, they can end up with a number of different problems. With this in mind, if they were to investigate why they are depressed and/or anxious, for example, they might find that these are the effects of what happened when they were growing up.
Looking deeper and finding out what’s going on, and then treating the cause, would be ideal. But, because of their need to avoid pain and their need to remain loyal to (and protect) their parents, they may end up living on the surface of themselves.
The cause
As a result of this, they may come to the conclusion that the reason they feel this way is due to a ‘chemical imbalance’. Now, they may have an imbalance within them, but this is unlikely to be something that just happened.
There will be a reason their brain is not working properly, and it could be due to the trauma they experienced early on. However, in the same way that their time in the educational system has probably not allowed them to develop self-awareness and self-knowledge, they are unlikely to receive the guidance they need if they had to see their Doctor.
Other part
His early years would not only have affected his brain, these years would also have had an impact on his gut. And while the mind is often considered the most important area when it comes to mental health, it’s actually the stomach that plays a bigger role.
If this part of their body isn’t right, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for them to function at their best. What this also means is that even if someone’s early years weren’t abusive, they could destroy their mental and emotional health by having a poor diet.
It’s terrible
One of the things that ruins gut microbes is sugar, and much of what is eaten in the world today is full of sugar. Ultimately, a poor diet leads to poor mental and emotional health; It’s as simple as that.
Along with diet, what will also make it difficult for someone to function is if they don’t have close connections with others. Talking to people online, for example, can’t replace real relationships.
One step back
If someone had a dysfunctional childhood, it may mean that they didn’t receive the guidance they needed to be able to develop connections with others. In fact, what might feel safer is keeping people at a distance.
Naturally, this is going to make them suffer; not only will they find it difficult to regulate their own emotions (system), but they will rarely have anyone around them who can help them do so. However, while someone may experience life this way because of a difficult childhood, they could have many people in their life.
A mask
They will then spend a lot of time with others, but this does not mean that they will fully introduce themselves. Instead, it may be someone who usually hides how they feel, which means these people won’t know what’s really going on with them.
Because of what happened early in their life, they likely feel like there is something inherently wrong with them. This is then the reason why they need to fake and hide their true selves.
final thoughts
Perhaps that is why so many people suffer in silence despite being surrounded by family and friends. So because child abuse is so common, the education system rarely allows people to understand themselves (it usually does the opposite), much of today’s food is bad, technology often replaces relationships real and so much of the modern world is about escapism, I’d say it would be a real shock if mental and emotional issues were the exception rather than the rule.