| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| shawnsmith |
Posted - 01/03/2013 : 14:27:25
TENSION
Tension is a word that is widely used and means different things to different people; in my work and in this book the disorder is called the Tension Myositis Syndrome. The word tension is used here to refer to emotions that are generated in the unconscious mind and that, to a large extent, remain there. These feelings are the result of a complicated interaction between different parts of our minds and between the mind and the outside world. Many of them are either unpleasant, painful or embarrassing, in some way unacceptable to us and/or society, and so we repress them. The kinds of feelings referred to are anxiety, anger and low self-esteem (feelings of inferiority). They are repressed because the mind doesn't want us to experience them, nor does it want them to be seen by the outside world. It is likely that, if given a conscious choice, most of us would decide to deal with the bad feelings; but as the human mind is presently constituted, they are immediately and automatically repressed --- one has no choice.
To sum up, the word tension will be used here to refer to repressed, unacceptable emotions.
STRESS
The word stress is often confused with tension and seems to stand for anything that is emotionally negative. I like to use it to refer to any factor, influence or condition that tests, strains or in any way puts pressure on the individual. We can be stressed physically or emotionally. Excessive heat or cold are physical stressors; a emanding job or family problems are emotional ones. The stress involved in TMS leads to emotional reactions that are repressed. The work of Dr. Hans Selye is credited with first drawing attention to how stress affects the body; his research and writing were prolific and stand as one of the major accomplishments of medicine in the twentieth century. Dr. Selye's definition of biological stress is: "the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it."
Stress can be either external or internal to the individual.
Examples of external stress are your job, financial problems, illness, change of job or home, caring for children or parents. However, the internal stressors appear to be more important in the production of tension. These are one's own personality attributes, like conscientiousness, perfectionism, the need to excel, and so forth. People often say that they have a very stressful job and that's why they're tense. But if they weren't conscientious about doing a good job, if they weren't trying to succeed, achieve and excel, they wouldn't generate tension. Often such people are highly competitive and determined to get ahead. Typically, they are more critical of themselves than others are of them.
A homemaker and mother with a similar personality stresses herself in the same way as someone in the work world, but the focus of her concerns is the family. She worries about her children, her husband, her parents. She wants the best for everyone and will do everything in her power to bring it about. She may also tell you that it is important to her that everyone like her, that she gets very upset if she feels that anyone is displeased with her. (This compulsion to please is, of course, not limited to women; a middleaged man expressed identical sentiments in my office recently.)
Stress, then, is outside what one might call the inner core of the emotional structure and is composed of the stresses and strains of daily life and, more importantly, aspects of one's own personality. And stress leads to tension (repressed, unacceptable feelings). Now let's take a closer look at the personality.
(Healing Back Pain 29 - 31) |
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