What are the core emotions of a human? During the 1970’s, a psychologist by the name of Paul Eckman did a study on the basic emotions of a human, which are emotions that everyone will experienced universally in the human culture. These emotions include happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger and surprise. There are also a few more added to the expanded list, which are pride, shame embarrassment and excitement. (1)
Building off of this, another psychologist, Robert Plutchik created the wheel of emotions, which explains how different emotions can be combined and what they create. An example listed is combining joy and trust, which will equal love. Researchers have then decided that it is more of a gradient rather than a wheel due to the large spectrum of different levels of emotions. (1)
Stress is a very normal part of life, with everyone experiencing it every once and a while. A little stress can be good for you, but large amounts of stress can have a large impact on your mental health. It can trigger a fight-flight mode, which can affect your mood, immune and digestive systems, along with cardiovascular health. Some symptoms of chronic stress are irritability, anxiety, depression, headaches and insomnia. (2)
A short list of different parts of body affected by long term stress(2):
- Central nervous and endocrine systems
Increased heart beat and excessive amount of blood sent to main organs such as heart and muscles.
- Respiratory and cardiovascular systems
Hyperventilation, blood vessels can constrict, raised blood pressure, and the risk of a stoke or heart attack increases.
- Digestive system
Extra blood sugar produced, risk of type 2 diabetes increases, increased risk of heart burn, acid reflux and ulcers, along with diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, nausea or stomachaches.
- Muscular system
Long term tightened muscles can cause headaches, back and shoulder pain, along with body aches.
- Reproductive and sexuality system
For women, disrupted menstrual cycle, lowered sex drive and infertility. For men, erectile disfunction, increased risk of prostate and testicle infection, along with a lowered sex drive.
- Immune system
Weakened immune system, and reduced response to foreign invaders. It can also increase recovery period from injury or sickness.
Mental health has a massive impact on the physical well being of any human. A study shows that a more positive mental state can lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes. With poor mental health comes poor physical health and harmful behavior to yourself and others. An example of this is smoking, most people with low levels a dopamine (hormone that makes you happy) turn to smoking a drugs, which can harm you and the people around you breathing in those fumes. As stated above, depression is a result of chronic stress, which can lead to chronic illnesses, which includes diabetes, cancer, asthma, cardiovascular disease and arthritis.(3)
Ways to ensure that you maintain a positive psychological state are to get regular exercise, eating a sufficient amount of food, avoid alcohols and drugs, receiving enough sleep, finding a relaxation technique that works for you, develop good mental practices and finally seeking help from others. The key is to find what works for you. If you don’t like going on runs, or working out in the gym, you could find an alternate activity that you enjoy and look forward to doing, because if you don’t want to, you won’t end up doing it. (3)
The ability to express and experience your emotions is key to living a peaceful and balanced life. Emotions are what creates our life and makes it interesting, Vicki Botnick says, “Strong feelings can signify that we embrace life fully, that we’re not repressing our natural reactions.” It is perfectly normal to have outbursts of overwhelming emotions, usually when impactful or exciting things happen. When your emotions get out of control often, it can affect relationships and friendships, can cause difficulty relating to other people, trouble at work or school, an urge to use substances or alcohol, emotional and even physical outbursts. (3)
The steps to take when you want to take control of your emotions:
1) Take a look at the impact your emotions have
2) Aim for regulation and not oppression
3) identify your feelings
4) Accepting every single emotion, even the bad ones
5) Keeping account of your emotions (mood journal)
6) Taking a deep breath
7) Knowing when to express yourself
8) Creating space for yourself
9) Try meditation
10) Stay in control of stress
11) Getting help / talking to a therapist
Now, a few ways that others might try to manipulate you, and how to recognize it. The link below shows 25, different ways, but I will only be talking about a few. The first one is gaslighting, which is when the person you are talking to is trying to twist your reality and for you to start to doubt it. It will make you question if something actually happened or if someone said something. A very common one is “I never said that.” It is very simple, but it makes you question, did I hear them wrong? Another one is guilt-tripping, this is when someone will over exaggerate their situation to make others feel bad for them, and sometimes give them something extra or go easier on them because of it. This will play with your emotions and make you feel bad, or affect your perspective on the person on thing that they are talking about. The last one is flattery and charm, this one is when they give you a ton of complements, and will sugar coat everything to make you feel good and to gain your trust. This can cloud your judgement and will make you easier to manipulate.
1) Kendra Cherry MsEd (12/01/22) The 6 types of Basic Emotions. Retrieved from The 6 Types of Basic Emotions (verywellmind.com)
2) Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, PsyD – By Ann Piertrangelo – Updated on March 21, 2023 The Effects of Stress on Your Body (healthline.com)
3)Medically Reviewed by Jennifer Robinson, MD on September 20, 2023Mental Health: How it Affects Your Physical Health (webmd.com)
4) Medically reviewed by Jennifer Litner, PhD, LMFT, CST- By Crystal Raypole- Updated on February 9, 2023 How to Control Your Emotions: 11 Strategies to Try (healthline.com)
5) 25 Psychological Manipulation Techniques | Psychologyorg
Hi Sarang,
I loved reading your post about the core emotions of a human. I loved how you included various types of mental health topics. For example, you mentioned the harms of stress (ex. The harm for digestive system, muscular system, respiratory system, immune system, and cardiovascular systems). Furthermore, you mentioned how to manage stress (ex. Identifying our feelings, accepting the emotions, mood journal, creating personal space, and taking a deep breathe). Moreover, I loved how you included the key factors that someone may try to manipulate us (guilt tripping, gaslighting and flattery). This shows me to really concentrate on my mental health as much as my physical health because mental health enormously affects my physical health. To do well on tests, I also need to have a positive mind (ex. I can do this mindset ). I am also a gullible person, so it is important for me not to fall into the traps of a manipulator. Some questions I have for you are: what is the difference between a stress coping mechanism of an adult and a teenager? Is technology like social media beneficial for our mental health? What are some ways other than education to promote mental health? Why was information on mental health almost non-existent in the early 1800s? How can our friends and families help elevate our mental health?
Here are some resources to further your research:
1)https://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/quackery/quack5.html
2)https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/nurses-institutions-caring/history-of-psychiatric-hospitals/
3)https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/502/
4)https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317321
5)https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/out-the-ooze/202008/snapshot-life-in-19th-century-insane-asylum
Good luck on the rest of your posts,
Sarah K