Spiritual health maintenance

Author: Shen Quanhong, Chang Haiyan, Mou Ling
Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-01
Features: Jealousy, Unconventional Psychological Satisfaction
Jealousy is a flaw in normal psychology, referring to an inexplicable sense of dissatisfaction when others surpass oneself in terms of character, talent, appearance, achievements, reputation, and other aspects, even leading to intense resentment and improper behavior. Jealousy inevitably affects unity, strains interpersonal relationships, harms others, and brings harm to one's own mental and physical health. People with a strong jealousy tend to be envious of others' actions, even when they are clearly in the wrong, they still argue unjustly or attribute it to external reasons. They are overly suspicious and sensitive, often believing others are out to get them, causing unnecessary misunderstandings. The "nameless anger" caused by jealousy makes people irritable and melancholic, lowering their physiological functions and making them more prone to psychological or physical illnesses. If jealousy arises between spouses, it can also affect the harmony of their relationship and even the stability of family life. Balzac once said: "The suffering of a jealous person is greater than that of anyone else; their own misfortune and others' happiness both cause them immense pain." Jealousy is sometimes called the "Othello Syndrome."
Shakespeare's Othello is an immortal tragedy that depicts Othello, a brave and skilled Moorish general, who, after falling in love with Desdemona and marrying her, soon becomes severely suspicious due to the deception and manipulation of villains. He kills Desdemona with his own hands, creating a tragic legacy. Later, some European psychiatrists used this story to name the act of killing one's wife out of suspicion of infidelity or unfaithfulness as the "Othello Syndrome." This syndrome often occurs in those with subjective suspicion, narrow-mindedness, irritability, jealousy, and severe feudal thinking, as well as in mentally ill individuals with jealousy delusions.
Jealousy Stimulates Pain Centers Through Stimulation
Research in physiological psychology has found that in the hypothalamus, limbic system, and adjacent areas of the human brain, there are emotional centers for "pain" and "happiness." Jealousy stimulates the pain center, causing disorders in the endocrine system, increased adrenaline secretion, decreased activity of digestive glands, impaired gastrointestinal function, peripheral blood vessel constriction, and other physiological changes. As a result, relative physical symptoms may appear, such as stomach pain, back pain, reduced appetite, and relaxation of the skin and muscles.
Methods to Overcome Jealousy
The jealousy of normal people can be corrected through education, persuasion, or raising awareness. The methods are as follows:
(1) Sublimation: This is a positive form of overcoming jealousy. If a person's original behavior or desires, if expressed directly, may lead to punishment or negative consequences, but if directed toward a higher, constructive, and socially beneficial direction, it becomes sublimation. For example, someone with strong jealousy who cannot tolerate others' achievements but cannot express this feeling rationally may try to surpass their rivals through hard study and work.
(2) Self-Awareness: In daily life and work, one should promptly identify others' strengths and their own weaknesses, as well as others' shortcomings and their own advantages. Only by knowing oneself and others can one be protected from the of jealousy.
(3) Psychological Substitution: Imagine the person being jealous of is someone close to oneself, or place oneself in the position of being envied and experiencing coldness and rejection. Try to empathize with this hypothetical state to experience the pain of losing love and being loved in imagination, recognize the consequences of jealousy, and achieve self-reflection.
(4) Heart-to-Heart Talk: If spouses are suspicious of each other and lack trust, the best approach is for them to have an open and honest conversation to eliminate misunderstandings. With shared aspirations and a love for life, they can cultivate common interests, care for and understand each other, and thus eliminate the breeding ground for jealousy.
The Inspiration of "Wishing for Plums to Quench Thirst"
During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao led the Wei army into battle. It was the height of summer, and the sun was scorching. The soldiers were so thirsty that their throats felt like they were on fire, longing for shade and cool water. Cao Cao, seeing this, pointed his whip forward and said, "There is a large plum orchard ahead." Hearing this, the soldiers thought of the sour taste of plums and immediately began to salivate, no longer feeling thirsty. The army continued forward and walked dozens of miles. This is the famous historical anecdote "Wishing for Plums to Quench Thirst," which is essentially a form of suggestion therapy.
Suggestion is the simplest and most typical form of conditioned reflex suggestion, an objective psychological phenomenon. It is based on the direct influence of psychological impulses generated during association and also on the various functions, activities, and behaviors of the body. Through language, patients accept the ideas implanted by doctors without logical judgment, intuitively. Suggestion not only affects psychology and behavior but also physiological functions. When the stimulus comes from the outside, it is called external suggestion, such as "Wishing for Plums to Quench Thirst"; when the stimulus comes from one's own views, experiences, or physiological changes, it is called self-suggestion. Negative self-suggestions in patients often worsen their condition.
Suggestion Therapy: Using Positive Suggestion to Treat Diseases
In daily life, the effect of suggestion can be positive and healthy or negative and harmful. Negative suggestion that disrupts psychological, behavioral, and physiological functions often leads to psychosomatic disorders and diseases. As a medical technique, suggestion therapy refers to a method of treating diseases using positive suggestion. Specifically, it involves doctors influencing patients' psychological states through subtle and indirect means—such as language, words, and actions—to guide patients to unconsciously accept therapeutic advice or develop certain beliefs, changing their emotions and behaviors to eliminate psychological and physical disorders. Suggestion therapy can be conducted in two settings: one is when the patient is fully awake without any hypnosis, and the other is when the patient is first put into a hypnotic state and then given suggestion therapy.
The Beauty of Sunset, Though Near the End
As the song goes: "Nothing is more beautiful than the red sunset, warm and serene. The sunset is a late-blooming flower, a aged wine, a distant love." After middle age, people gradually enter "old age," beginning to age—a natural law of humanity that cannot be resisted. Yet the sunset is full of warmth, leaving people lingering and intoxicated. Throughout history, many emperors have suffered from the fleeting nature of life, seeking immortality but only to be mocked by future generations. With the development of productivity, advances in science, medicine, and public health have gradually controlled diseases, and life expectancy has increased. The saying "seventy is not rare today" has become a reality. The proportion of elderly people in the population is gradually growing. Therefore, understanding the physiological characteristics of the elderly and researching their mental health has become increasingly important. This holds positive social significance for the elderly to live healthily in their later years.
The Mental State of the Elderly is Primarily Related to Cerebral Cortex Atrophy
After the age of fifty, the weight of the brain gradually decreases by 160–200 grams, and the functions of nerves and muscles decline. Studies show that the conduction time of the ulnar nerve in elderly people in their 80s and 90s is slower than that of young people in their 20s and 30s, and both simple and discriminative reaction times increase with age. Visual and auditory acuity declines, as do the sensitivity of touch and movement perception, tendon reflexes weaken, movements slow down, and the excitability of the central nervous system decreases while inhibitory processes weaken. The recovery process of nerve cells also extends. Functionally, memory for recent events declines, but intelligence does not decline due to aging. Instead, mechanical memory decreases, replaced by logical understanding.
Some researchers have studied the aging of the brain for many years and believe that brain cells do not die much but lose their function, leading to aging. The psychology of the elderly has distinct characteristics. As they age, they have just passed through a period of physiological transition, and their bodies are in a relatively stable state. Psychologically, they have also undergone a significant shift, with their jobs moving from the first to the second or third line or with retirement and returning home. Their thoughts shift from dynamic to static, their range of life shrinks, and their mental state may easily shift from positive to negative. Therefore, in general, people in this period are in a relatively state of adaptation.
(1) Negative Thoughts, Spiritual Emptiness
The elderly have worked hard and tirelessly, forming a relatively regular pattern in their brains. If their work environment changes and disrupts this established pattern, forcing them into a new lifestyle, it may cause their thoughts to shift from positive to negative and their spirits to shift from a sense of belonging to one of isolation. They may become silent, melancholic, and unhappy; irritable and easily angered, getting into arguments over trivial matters with their children or spouses. These negative emotions can cause changes in the body. As people age, their physiological and functional abilities naturally decline, making them more susceptible to diseases. Combined with such mental stress, it may accelerate the aging process of an already aging body.
(2) Freer Life, Relaxed Spirit
As people age, their lives shift from a state of tension to one of relaxation, from being constrained by time, tasks, and routines to being free, leisurely, and lax. If they adopt a lifestyle of "three full meals and two naps" and continue it for a long time, they may develop negative emotions, losing interest in food and people, becoming irritable, or even developing depression due to prolonged frustration.
(3) Social Isolation, Spiritual Loneliness
After retirement, the elderly shift from a large collective to a smaller family, from interacting with many people and doing many things to interacting with fewer people and doing fewer things, leading to a sense of isolation and adaptation issues. Especially for some elderly who were once surrounded by people and guests before retirement, after retirement, they are often treated differently, with fewer visitors, making their spirits even more lonely and their social circles shrinking, severely affecting their physical and mental health.
(4) Emotional Fluctuations, Mental Turmoil
As people age, some emotional fluctuations are a normal psychological phenomenon. However, if these fluctuations last too long, from a psychological perspective, they can disrupt the balance of the entire psychological activity, leading to a series of physiological changes in various tissues and organs, such as weak movements, pale complexion, rapid heartbeat, elevated blood pressure, narrowed pupils, altered breathing frequency, and inhibited activity of digestive glands. These changes can even alter blood viscosity and chemical composition in the blood. Such changes can have a negative impact on physical and mental health. Moreover, the consequences of this may take a long time to resolve. For example, some elderly may experience temporary emotional excitement or anger, causing the cerebral cortex and hypothalamus, which control blood vessel dilation and constriction, to remain in an excited state. This leads to persistent contraction and spasm of small arteries, elevated blood pressure. At the same time, substances that increase blood pressure and constrict blood vessels, such as norepinephrine and cortisol, are secreted in excess, increasing pressure in already hardened and brittle arteries. This can lead to rupture at weak points in the blood vessels, causing cerebral hemorrhage, which is a common trigger for strokes today.