Human understanding of neuroscience has grown exponentially in the past few decades, particularly when it comes to the connection between our emotions and physical health. Such findings have widespread applications, especially in the field of medicine. Chronically negative emotions slow patient recovery from illness, make us susceptible to new diseases and even shorter our life span.
Though some health practitioners have assumed accountant’s mentalities because of increase in demand and shortage of supply, health care must enlarge its vision to embrace the role of emotions. Given the many benefits more emotionally savvy patient care would yield, health care has a responsibility to change its ways.
Historically, medicine has dismissed emotions as trivial, with attention toward patients’ feelings connoting a lack of medical seriousness. Such attitudes persist today even in the face of mounting neuroscientific evidence to the contrary. Neuroscientist David Felten has described how our emotions interact with our body, noting that “emotions have a powerful effect on the autonomic nervous system, which regulates everything from how much insulin is secreted to blood-pressure levels.”
Perhaps the most important findings relate to how our brains interact with our immune systems, suggesting a link between emotions and recovery time for illness. Negative emotions have received the most attention, particularly stress, depression and anger. While the relationships are complex, psychologist Daniel Goleman notes in his book Emotional Intelligence that “the main influence is that while [emotion-induced] hormones surge through the body, the immune cells are hampered in their function.”
In labs across the world, microbiologists and neuroscientists are making even more connections, illuminating a complex relationship between stressful emotional lives and the function of our cardiovascular and immune systems. Though the science becomes clearer each month, medicine – by nature, a profession that eschews quick change (often rightly for the sake of maximizing safety) – has been painfully slow to pick up the implications of neuroscientific research. When one finds attention to the emotions in the practice of medicine it is contingent rather than part of a methodical approach to patient care. For example, many surgeons will postpone surgeries if the patient is panicking the day of the procedure. Excessively anxious patients bleed too much, experience more infections and complications and have a more difficult time recovering.
Studies find that people who felt chronic negative emotions over a long period of time had double the risk of illness, from asthma to heart disease. These findings rank distressing emotions as toxic a risk factor as smoking or high cholesterol. Though these broad statistical implications do not mean that chronic negative feelings cause disease, they are certainly important enough to be considered in disease treatments.
So if the science could get the attention of doctors, how could it be used to improve patient care? With increasing demands being put on physicians, patient-doctor interaction is getting shorter and less satisfying. This lack of satisfaction is perhaps the biggest source of stress for the average patient: not having their questions answered, not understanding the choices given to them and generally feeling like passive actors in their medical fates. Some immediately apparent solutions are to ensure that patients receive the information required to make decisions about their medical care. Software is currently being developed to assist such efforts.
Employing a third party to help guide the patient could prove to be an even more effective – albeit more costly – solution. And since time constraints are an issue, patients can be trained (with a simple informational pamphlet, for example) to be prepared for visits to the doctor.
When it comes to surgery, relaxation techniques could help soothe fears and anxiety, limiting procedural complications and decreasing recovery times. Though these changes seem minor, their widespread implementation would yield significant improvements in health care – both in terms of patient emotional satisfaction and in physical health.
With the science at our fingertips, health care needs only to reach out and make a serious effort to reform. Ultimately, helping people manage their upsetting emotions – anger, anxiety, depression, pessimism and loneliness – is a form of disease prevention. By treating patients’ psychological needs along with their purely medical ones, it is possible to achieve a more comprehensive, intelligent system of health care. “Compassion,” as one patient put it, “is not mere hand-holding. It is good medicine.”
George Knaysi is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
Read More
LETTER: Medical students stand in support of transgender youth
By Rachel Rezabek , Russell Hawes , Ishaan Rischie , Elianna Dunster , Kaile Maske , Zain Ahmad and Zoe Ziff | 1 hours agoAs future physicians, we cannot remain silent, especially since U.Va. Health is one of the most comprehensive gender health centers in the country.
HUYNH: The Supreme Court must support civil rights litigation in Virginia and beyond
By Viet Huynh | 6 hours agoThe Supreme Court must prioritize protecting the litigating power of the people against potentially tyrannical laws by their government.
EDITORIAL: U.Va. Health lets fear trump its mission to do no harm
By Editorial Board | YesterdayIt is high time to resist these authoritative and dangerous actions before there are no federal avenues left for resistance.
