Is This Mental, or Physical or Both?

Our emotions are every bit as important a part of sensing what is going on in our world as our eyes, and ears and sense of touch, and yet we treat them as something to be ashamed of - something that means we are somehow defective if all that isn't working perfectly.  When we 'stuff' our emotions or hide them or lie about them, we are dishonoring the very core of our humanness and our ability to connect to self and to others.   When we don't express our emotions it impairs our ability to really connect with our fellow humans, and even with ourselves.   When we don't attend to them we can be missing out on other  important issues as well.   Medications and illnesses can affect our emotions in both good and bad ways, and sometimes that emotional change is the first sign that something is wrong.  For example, a bladder infection could just cause some lower abdominal pain or pain when urinating BUT it could also cause you to be confused - sometimes to the point of looking totally demented - and sometimes the mental change is the first and/or only finding.   What a shame if you got treated for Alzheimers, when the problem was a treatable infection!  Some medications, especially street drugs, can cause what looks like major mental illnesses - cured by stopping that  medication for a long enough time.

   The reverse of this is also true - you may start developing some sort of medical issue - and it could be affecting any area of your body - and it could be nature's way of letting you know you  have a high level of emotional pain you aren't taking care of .  The failure to get in touch with those emotional issues can push you  into more and more serous medical problems.   The two are so intertwined that it is critical to stay in touch with and address both to have a physically and emotionally happy, productive llife.