Have we been feeling the stress of living lately, especially after what we have all been through in the last few years? Is that stress getting to you and me? Have any of us become physically and/or mentally sick due to the stress of what has been happening around us and to us?
The toll that stress takes on peoples in the West is staggering. Here are only a few statistics from recent years:
It has been estimated that, in our Western societies, 75 to 90% of doctor’s visits result from stress-related physical issues: diabetes, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, asthma, headaches, allergies, skin problems, digestive disorders, autoimmune deficiencies, myriad inflammation, etc.
Past surveys and reports (Ipsos Reid and Global News [Canada], as examples) indicate that almost 1/3 of Canadians have seen or are seeing a therapist or counsellor to deal with mental pain from stress: depression, phobias, panic attacks, fatigue, lethargy, exhaustion, insomnia, loss of memory, foggy thinking.
On the rise around us is extreme mental and emotional pain from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), aloneness, family dysfunction, being bullied, “headline stress” disorder, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and many other conditions that seem more pronounced.
According to Health Canada, signs of being personally “over-stressed” may include:
- Feelings of irritability, sadness or guilt
- Change in sleep patterns
- Change in weight or appetite
- Difficulty in concentrating or making decisions
- Negative thinking
- Loss of interest, enjoyment or energy in things you used to enjoy
- Restlessness
They also state that:
“Stress is considered to be a risk factor in a great many diseases, including: heart disease; some types of bowel disease, herpes, mental illness…Stress also makes it hard for people with diabetes to control their blood sugar. Stress is a risk factor in alcohol and substance abuse, as well as weight loss and gain. Stress has even been identified as a risk factor in Alzheimer’s Disease.
“Severe stress can cause biochemical changes in the body, affecting the immune system, leaving your body vulnerable to disease.”
There has been much research done to document stress and its affects but suffice to say that damage and carnage is increasingly evident in most communities within our Western nations: our peoples are profoundly affected physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Many experiencing such stress-sickness in body and mind turn to certain solutions for relieving, minimizing or eliminating stress: mainly, psychiatric treatment (most often with medication), or psychological treatment (focussed on thought alteration).
Psychiatric treatment of stress is handled extensively through the prescribing of drugs, which is quite fascinating and distressing at the same time. Mandy Oaklander, the science editor for TIME-LIFE, in a December, 2019 special edition on Mental Health, wrote:
“Ever since the first anti-depressants were introduced 60 years ago, doctors have patients who don’t seem to get better even after they’ve worked their way through the lengthy list of available drugs (20-plus that are approved by the American FDA). About 30% of all people with depression don’t respond adequately to any available treatments. That’s a dismal failure rate for a class of drugs designed to improve a person’s basic utility to function.
She continues: “…with suicides in the U.S. at their highest rate since World War II, experts agree that patients need faster ways to feel better, without waiting the typical four to eight weeks it takes for anti-depressants to kick in. And as old drugs have gone off patent (generics available) – making them less lucrative for the pharmaceutical industry – companies are eager to find new revenue streams.”
The idea is, “Let’s medicate people to make them better and when that becomes unprofitable, move on.” But all is not lost in this battle according to researchers: there is a something new in this field – Oaklander continues:
“The biggest development has been the rediscovery of a promising yet fraught drug called ketamine. It is best known as a psychedelic club drug that makes people hallucinate, but it may have the ability to ease depression – and rapidly. In a race to shape the next generation of anti-depressants, drug companies have been fast-tracking new medicines inspired by ketamine, with the FDA green-lighting the first of them in March, 2019…Now many experts – and drug companies – believe the target is ketamine hydrochloride, the only legally available psychedelic drug in the U.S.”
So, stress brings us to the breaking point and then we are prescribed mind-altering medications that will cause an escape from reality at best and addiction unto death at worst. This hardly seems the solution to the stress of our times.
Then there is psychological treatment to deal with mental health – one popular method originated with Aaron Beck (a psychiatrist, ironically) at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1960s. He is considered the father of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and noticed the following [from p.36 of The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt]:
“…patients tended to get themselves caught in a feedback loop in which irrational negative beliefs caused powerful negative feelings, which in turn seemed to drive patients’ reasoning, motivating them to find evidence to support their negative beliefs.
“Beck noticed a common pattern of beliefs, which he called the ‘cognitive triad’ of depression: ‘I’m no good,’ ‘My world is bleak,’ and ‘My future is hopeless.’ Many people experience one or two of these thoughts fleetingly, but depressed people tend to hold on to all three beliefs…and [hold on to] their paths through life that are thoroughly disempowering.
“If you can get people to examine these beliefs and consider counterevidence, it gives them some moments of relief from negative emotions, and if you release them from negative emotions, they become more open to questioning their negative beliefs…with repetition, over a period of weeks or months, people can change their schemas [patterns of thoughts and behaviors] and create different, more helpful habitual beliefs (such as ‘I can handle most challenges,’ or ‘I have friends I can trust’)…”
CBT may be on the right track in getting us to move away from negative programming that comes with stress-related illness, but few seem to be able to consistently follow the discipline it takes to diligently reject the constant broadcast of negative ideas and events that come at us “24/7, 366.”
Psychiatric or psychological therapies may be helpful for some in treating mental illness (and physical illness) caused by stress, but treatment for spiritual health is most times left out by these disciplines. It is evident, however, that physical, mental and spiritual health are intimately related.
How these three components of one’s health are related is captured in an article from the Earl E. Bakken Centre for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota in an article entitled, Why Is Spirituality Important?
“There is a growing body of evidence indicating that spiritual practices are associated with better health and well-being for many reasons, including…
Meditation – Brain Researcher Richard Davidson’s research shows that meditation increases the brain’s gray matter density, which can reduce sensitivity to pain, enhance your immune system, help you regulate difficult emotions and relieve stress. Meditation, in particular, has been proven helpful for people with depression and anxiety, cancer, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, chronic fatigue and cardiovascular disease.
Prayer – may elicit the relaxation response, with feelings of hope, gratitude, and compassion – all of which have a positive effect on overall well-being. Of course, one’s belief system greatly affects how comfort, hope, gratitude and compassion and overall well-being come through prayer (i.e. s: a concept of a better after-life, or being with deceased loved ones again), but it is asserted that “talking” to a Higher Power is beneficial for complete health.
Study – adhering to a particular spiritual tradition may bring an indirect health benefit because many traditions have rules about treating the body with kindness and avoiding unhealthy behaviours. Research shows that perhaps because of these [inscribed tenets], people who practice a religion or faith tradition are less likely to smoke, drink, commit a crime or become involved in violent activity, and they are more likely to engage in preventative habits.”
The benefits listed above are not all there is to meditation, prayer, and study, but there is an obvious connection between physical, mental, and spiritual health, and any one of these components being askew can bring illness to the other two.
Jesus Christ promised relief from stress that makes us sick in the context of our mortal existence. Matthew 11:28-30 of the J.B. Phillips version of the Bible’s New Testament offers this remedy:
“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and over-burdened, and I will give you rest. Put My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Our lives do not have to be spent physically and mentally enslaved to the demands of our living environments but taking on Jesus Christ’s “yoke” of living a spiritually healthful life can make our stress burden far lighter.
