® Copyright December 1, 1994
I was angry today. In fact I think I woke up angry. I hate it when that happens. It ruins my whole day. I hate it when I get angry. My head begins to pound and my jaws ache from clenching. I feel stiff and tight and everything is irritating. On the way to work, people drive too slow and some cut in front of me.
At work they don't listen to what I tell them to do and I have to yell. I hate it when I yell. I get red in the face and my heart races. It is hard to get people to do what you want and to get them to do it the way you want. It really upsets me when I have to deal with these incompetent people. My stomach hurts and even my back. These people are a pain in the neck.
Work just drags on even though I have to do everything. I try as hard as I can but there never seems to be enough time to get it all done so I stay late. It's tough getting out of my chair after so many hours chained to this desk. My back aches really deep inside and I am getting this pain in my leg. The hemorrhoids are doing their thing again, bleeding and hurting me. Maybe it was something I ate at lunch. Martinis ain' t that bad and how could they hurt my hemorrhoids?
Finally I get to go home. Home sweet home, now there's a joke. The kids will be yelling again and fighting. My wife, she doesn't understand the pressures I am under. If she would just do what I tell her to do the kids would straighten up. I could get some peace. There's another joke. I would like some peace, some relief from this pain. Damn my jaw hurts. If she would just understand how much I hurt.
Anger is a real feeling, it is very physical and usually a symptom of some underlying problem, some pain that we are experiencing. When we attempt to manipulate our environment and are less than successful we can feel a loss of control and become frustrated. Yet we also can feel like we are being attacked.
Built into our physical structure is a protective mechanism called the sympathetic autonomic nervous system, the fight or flight response. This natural protective response keeps us alive and is designed to respond instantly to deal with an emergency. Once the situation is over, we can continue our peaceful way. We are civilized human beings who hold back this very effective and tremendously powerful physical tool. We negotiate or discuss our problems when our bodies want us to hit or run.
Because of this conflict, we are runners in the starting blocks ready to explode into action, waiting for weeks instead of seconds. All of the forces of the body are put on line for action and the action never comes. Now this energy turns inward and we start to fall apart. Not big pieces but little things: increased blood pressure, generalized muscle tension, stomach aching (of course the digestive system shuts down when we are under attack) all the signs of anxiety, depression, anger.
So what comes first? When we are psychologically stressed, we have a physical response of muscle tension, increased heart rates and all of our normal preparations to fend off an attack. Yet if we do not respond naturally and physically defend ourselves, we end up directing that force inward and hurting ourselves. When we are physically injured, we can have a subconscious fear of not getting well and can become quite anxious. Now this anxiety causes a physical response that in turn causes a psychological reaction from which we get a physical reaction and so on.
Our angry friend is experiencing a pain in his neck. It is funny how common sayings are true. Psychological stress will cause the neck muscles to tighten and eventually cause pain and dysfunction. Also, a direct injury to the neck muscles in an automobile accident will cause the soft tissue to be inflamed resulting in pain and neurological dysfunction.
A curious thing happens when our neck muscles tighten. Our bodies interpret this tightening as preparation for an attack. When we experience neck injuries, our bodies are on the defensive and small irritations as an unkind word can cause strong psychological reactions such as anger. Our ability to be diplomatic may diminish almost to zero.
Physical injury can cause a psychological reaction and psychological injury can cause a physical reaction. A pain in the neck in a relationship is truly a pain in the neck. One encourages the other and a distressing cycle develops. When we experience the physical reactions to a psychological challenge and the psychological reactions to a physical challenge, we are locked in this cycle of imbalances. We can ride the tides of our bodies and simply accept the results or we can view these stresses as challenges, opportunities for growth and development.
Psychological stresses can be challenges to overcome and we can grow from the effort of responding to those challenges. A competent psychologist can help us speed up the process of our growth and we can use this new stress as a launching pad for further maturation.
Physical stresses can be accepted as temporary limitations and appropriate actions can be taken to speed up the physical healing and reduce the possibility of accelerated future degeneration. A competent chiropractor can help us in restoring our physical balance and help us develop healthier bodies that can play golf or tennis more successfully or can just enjoy life longer. We can break the cycle of imbalances only if we recognize that mind and body are connected and interactive.
In fact, when we reduce our physical imbalance, it becomes easier to deal with our psychological challenges and when we confront and grow from our psychological stresses, our bodies heal at a much faster rate.
When we encounter an angry person, we feel angry also, as if we are under attack, and if we respond naturally we will attempt to defend ourselves. Now we have two angry people in the room. Angry people are trying to communicate that they are feeling angry and that they are hurt. If we listen to their communication and respond to them as someone who is hurting, their anger subsides, for now they are being heard, they are being accepted. In addition they are having physical symptoms of stress and their bodies are preparing to fend off an attack. Those physical reactions need to be recognized and dealt with appropriately if they are going to enjoy a long and healthy life.
Did you recognize the angry person in the beginning of this article? Were they perhaps a patient, a relative, or someone closer? A sound mind in a sound body is not just an old saying. It is the truth.
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