Interview with Casilda Jáspez: emotions and their relationship with the body

What is the relationship between the mind and the body? Is there a clear distinction between the two, in the first place? These types of questions are philosophical questions of the first order that for centuries have attracted the interest of many thinkers. With the rise of Psychology, this subject began to take on new practical implications that have come down to us today.

What relationship is there between emotions and the body in which they are experienced? To better understand this issue, we interviewed an expert: the psychologist Casilda Jáspez.

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Interview with Casilda Jáspez: the link between the body and the emotional

Casilda Jaspez She is an expert psychologist in emotional and communication problems, and attends both online and in her office located in Granada. Here he talks about feelings and their relationship with what happens in our body, from his perspective as a psychological well-being professional.

Is it a mistake to consider that the mind and the body are two clearly separate entities?

The theme of mind-body duality has always existed throughout the history of thought, from discards with his "I think, therefore I am", until the birth of psychology in the 19th century, where the mind began to be conceived as something that was not independent of the body. However, it is difficult to reach an agreement on this issue and there are those who continue to resort to this duality.

I think that beings are made of a part of organic matter, where the mind would also be in terms of something tangible and visible, with its cells, structures, and chemical process, which will give rise to mental processes such as perception, thought, memory, consciousness, emotions and feelings, and on the other part would be that invisible and intangible mind with its mental states that will always be subjective and influenced by our emotions and thoughts, but that they They will also influence the processes of the organism, so that mind and body, the tangible, and the intangible and subjective, are intrinsically linked, influencing each other. the other.

The body undoubtedly responds to our way of thinking, feeling and acting.

Do you think that the problems of managing feelings are often overlooked because they do not generate symptoms as clear as physical illnesses?

There is no separation between physical and mental illness, there is no doubt that in every physical illness there is an emotional and psychological influence and component, I am not saying cause although sometimes yes, I say relationship and I don't think that the symptoms caused by emotional problems are not tangible and clear, they are there in phobias, panic attacks, generalized anxiety, depression and a long list, which will also influence the body as an organism, causing physical illness, the complicated and little visible is knowing what is behind that symptom, what that emotional state responds to, what is somehow causing you getting sick.

What types of alterations in the organism can be caused in large part by a mismanagement of emotions?

Some studies affirm that around 50% of illnesses have an emotional origin, others even do so. rise to 80%, making stress, that great evil of the world, responsible for a large number of pathologies modern.

It is scientifically proven that negative emotional states cause not only mental depression, they are also circumstances that depress the immune system making us more sensitive and vulnerable to suffering from certain diseases; constant common colds, pharyngitis, skin problems, and even cancer can be the answer to an emotional state persistent in which cells surrender to a prolonged state of stress and go into shock leading to abnormal multiplication of are.

Digestive problems also have a strong emotional component, along with heart problems, hypertension, autoimmune problems, allergies, muscular contractions, migraines, and an extensive list of complications, let's not forget that some studies attribute more than a hundred ailments.

And in the opposite sense, what type of emotional alterations are usually produced by medical illnesses?

As I have already been pointing out, psychological and physical alterations influence each other, but sticking to the question and in order not to extend myself too much, I could say that in general terms both the Anxiety and depressive states are typical of chronic diseases, in which significant changes occur in the environment of patients that affect their quality of life and welfare.

Anger, anger, are emotions that take over a person when diagnosed with a disease, as well as anguish, fear or helplessness in serious situations.

Another of the emotions that suffering from a physical illness can cause is guilt, thinking that we have not taken care of ourselves enough, and we can forget about the feeling of shame that some diseases with a strong social stigma such as HIV can cause feel.

In those cases in which the feelings have led the patient to develop psychological and physical complications, what is usually done from psychological therapy?

Well, the first step is to listen, you have to let the patient speak, help him express what he feels, what happens to him and how he experiences it. You should not try to comfort him, you should let him vent since on many occasions he has not been able to do so, good for him. himself or because the people around him, in their eagerness to help him, have not allowed him to express his sadness or his pain. Nor should you try to minimize his problem, even if his concern is disproportionate to the problem itself, because that is how that person is experiencing it.

After those first steps in which that person has been able to express himself and put his emotions on the table, he continues working with that information, trying to get the patient to deepen his repressed feelings, because in every psychological problem there is always a real and tangible cause that is producing it and another also unconscious, this being totally subjective and particular.

It is essential to find the true psychological origin of their ailments and work, especially those problematic emotions, trying to make the patient aware of them, to know what they have He has to do with what is happening to him, only then can he do something with it, it would not be about giving advice or offering coping tools, it is about each one finding their own. As Michel Foucault said, normality is a modern invention.

There are situations that cannot be changed as well as possibly ways of feeling, but you can transform and do something else with them. A few years ago I attended to a person who locked herself up at home and broke all social contact after being diagnosed with a chronic illness, from which she ashamed and did not accept having locked her up for a few years, evidently she ended up getting over it and accepting it, but it took time and the interesting thing about this case is that Although he could not help but feel what he felt, he decided to start studying, he did it at a distance, and graduated in a discipline that he exercises today and that brings him a lot personal satisfaction.

As a mental health professional, what emotion management habits do you think people often underestimate?

Emotional management has to do with that concept so fashionable in these times of emotional intelligence, understood as the psychological abilities and skills that they imply the feeling, understanding, control and modification of one's own emotions and those of others, and regarding this concept and from my opinion, some should be pointed out. things.

First, I sometimes wonder if we are really emotionally intelligent, daily we see both in our own lives and in those of others people around us, the continuous performance of harmful behaviors towards us, that even knowing that they are, we are not able to stop do.

On the other hand, I am not clear that emotional intelligence consists of identifying the emotions of others, it would rather be about connecting with one's own, recognizing and accepting them. Through an integration between those emotions that we do not like or that are difficult to recognize and those others that we like, in this way we will promote self-knowledge, which also allows us to be more empathic.

And finally, referring to emotional control and training, I do not believe that a person changes their structure because have to smile when you are feeling something else, or have to be positive when what happens to you is not for you nothing. Emotional intelligence is something that exists within each of us and we have to develop and integrate it and it requires us to know ourselves better.

That would be the key, self-knowledge, acceptance and working with what I am, with what I feel, and not with what I don't, with those I should, I should feel like this, you should do this other thing, which causes so much frustration, that is, not seek or pursue a way of thinking and feeling under an ideal and a perfection that does not exists.

I would summarize it in; connect with our emotions, promote self-knowledge and accept and integrate them, the ones we like and the ones we don't.