Stress: Friend or Foe
Not all stress is negative. Anxiety and excitement produce the same physiological responses in the body. They are two side of the same coin. A musician may feel anxious about an upcoming performance for which she has prepared very well. There is the excitement of anticipation because she wants to do well and has put in the work to make that a reality. Similarly, eustress, or stress that will likely produce positive outcomes, is quite necessary for an individual to thrive. The musician would feel eustress that will push her to practice every day in preparation for a performance. The opposite of eustress is distress, which is a form of suffering. Unresolved or prolonged distress can lead to negative outcomes that can affect a person’s health and impair normal functions, even to the point of disease.
There is a connection between stress and disease. Dr. Gabor Mate discusses the relationship between these in his book When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection. Referencing autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid disease, multiple sclerosis, and chronic conditions in general, he draws a parallel between the psychological profile of a patient who acquires illnesses such as these and the disease manifestation – likening both to a confusion or “disarray” of boundaries between the self and non-self. For example, this may be a person who does not express healthy anger toward an “attachment figure” but instead directs that anger inward toward themselves. Similarly autoimmune disease is one’s body turning against itself.
Dr. Mate speaks of the correlation between the repression of emotions and the manifestation of autoimmune and other diseases. He writes that before modern medicine and medical technology, a doctor had to form a close relationship with the patient, understand her life and the patient’s emotional landscape. The doctor relied on a more intuitive assessment of the patient.
The medical discipline of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a relatively new one. It addresses the mind and how emotions impact the nervous system and then the immune system. These facets of a human do not exist in isolation with one another. Dr. Gabor Mate ascertains that the field of PNI is a return to the roots of how doctors would practice before the advent of the modern medical model we know today. Dr. Mate states that chronic autoimmune disease “involves the entire PNI super-system, particularly the brain-hormone-immune connections.”
Stress hugely impacts this system. The production of the stress hormone cortisol is chronically stimulated and the leading to imbalance and dysregulation of the immune system. An immune system gone haywire can cause the body to attack itself, as it occurs in autoimmune disease. In a healthy person, when the perceived stress or danger is not present, the stress response is damped down and allows one’s body to return to its normal state. The problem is when the cortisol that should suppress the inflammatory response is unable to do so. The immune system stays in a heightened state and the body remains inflamed. This sets the stage for autoimmune diseases.