Anguish: A Silent Epidemic
There are so many manifestations of anguish, and so frequent are the consultations for its cause, that several experts already classify it as a true epidemic. It is felt in many ways: difficulties sleeping, panic attacks, a wide range of phobias, etc. What they have in common is that insidious fear that assails you on a daily basis.
Faced with this phenomenon, the health world has already developed several responses. There is an important supply of medicines. On the one hand, there are the traditional ones: a whole army of anxiolytics developed in pharmaceutical laboratories, which promise to reduce the dose of anguish. However, these drugs, in addition to having egregious side effects, generally only offer temporary solutions. That is, they only have an effect while they are taken.
There is also a huge offer of alternative medicines : “naturopaths”, homeopathic and bioenergetic solutions. That, of course, not counting all the home remedies against anguish: valerian or lemon balm water, lukewarm baths and all sorts of traditional tricks. However, none of them seem to work at all.
The epidemic of anguish is born in the collective mind
All phenomena that take place in the mind are reflected in the body. Most of the time, it happens in that order: first in the mind, then in the body. Only in a low percentage of cases does the opposite occur: first in the body and then in the mind. It occurs when, for example, you have a very high fever or have ingested a substance that alters your perception, among other cases.
Thus, the success story of the intervention with psychoactive drugs is limited. They reduce the symptom, it is true, but they do not solve the cause that originates it. Medications of any kind should only be viewed as a limited and temporary help, not a definitive solution.
The true solution only appears if the real cause of the distress is attacked. The problem is that, according to many experts, the current times as a whole are generating anguish in droves. Everything happens with dizzying speed, and the psychological tools that we have are unable to process reality at the same rate. That is why now the anguish is not an individual problem, but a true epidemic.
Why is it said to be a “silent” epidemic?
One of the most complex aspects of this panic epidemic is the fact that it is very difficult to verbalize. Each individual feels that daily uneasiness within him, which does not let him sleep, keeps him in a bad mood or leads him to immerse himself in tyrannical routines. But, at the same time, that individual has a hard time putting what he feels into words.
Each person feels as if something is left over. A weight from which he would like to free himself, but which he cannot fully identify. “Where does this feeling of weight come from, of excess? Where is that ballast? Will I be in a job that doesn’t suit me? Maybe the relationships I have with others are negative? Where should I aim to feel better? ”… Those are the questions that come, uninvited.
It is as if existence is completely crammed with something that it does not need. The sensation is similar to that which arises when we enter a room full, crammed, with unnecessary objects. We know that order must be put in place, but there are so many things to organize that we cannot identify the starting point.
From the epidemic to the individual
Science has endeavored to design generic or standardized solutions. After all, that’s his thing: extracting universal solutions for particular problems. However, when it comes to human subjectivity, these kinds of approaches are often very unfortunate. Ultimately, they solve nothing.
That is why there is an epidemic of anguish, and that is why the epidemic passes with the complicity of silence that is born from the drama that each one experiences. The answer to that concern can only be given by each person, one by one. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. There is no magic or universal formula that applies equally effectively to everyone. Each one has to find their own way to solve their lack of sleep, their feeling of oppression and suffocation, their recurring annoyance …
Also, each one must understand that to solve their anguish, the first thing they must do is face the novelty, the emptiness. You absolutely must make a break from the usual: it is the only way to begin to make room in the cramped mental room. A therapy that releases expression is also a good option, as are relaxation exercises that help to open that window in a mind that is highly charged.
Images courtesy of César Biojo
