To Your Health: Dangerous Emotions Part 1

By Cheryl Wade, MD, PC 

Cheryl D. Wade, MD, PC

What we feel emotionally determines our physical state. We cannot deny that when we are depressed we feel lethargic and lack energy or motivation, and easily succumb to accidents and the flu. 

We know people who suffer through a divorce, death in the family, or betrayal and then experience a heart attack, or serious disabling disease. The facts are that emotions trigger hormonal and bio chemical changes within the body.   

Emotions like love and gratitude make us feel good and promote physical health while emotions such as bitterness, anger and rage make our bodies feel bad and can kill us or cause serious disease over the long term. 

The brain communicates emotions to every cell in the body, and likewise the body communicates to the brain. This two way conversation is mediated by specific proteins called neuro-peptides .   

In the early1970’s  psycho -pharmacologist Candace Pert, Ph.D. discovered the “neuro-peptide”  which became a ground breaking advance in the scientific understanding of the mind-body connection.  

Dr. Pert believes that neuro-peptides and their receptors are key to understanding how mind and body are interconnected and how emotions can be manifested throughout the body.  

Neuro peptides interact directly and physically with the cells in the body via neuro-peptide receptors which are little geometric docking stations on the surface of the cell. Think “Star Wars” space station docking maneuvers. 

According to Dr. Pert , “the more we know about neuro- peptides, the harder it is to think in the traditional terms of a mind and a body. It makes more and more sense to speak of a single integrated entity, a “body-mind”. 

What are neur-opeptides?  Neuro-peptides (translate brain proteins) are bio-chemicals which regulate almost all of our life processes on a cellular level and therefore link all body systems. They are produced primarily in the brain by nerve cells, but almost every tissue in the body can and does produce and exchange neuro-peptides.  Neuro-peptides circulate in all body fluids.

Many neuro-peptides are natural analogs of psychoactive drugs.. Endorphins which are produced in the brain are very similar in chemistry and function to morphine. Endorphins are released after vigorous exercise and make us feel good naturally and hopefully get us addicted to regular physical activity. 

Another major unexpected source of neuro- peptides are hormones. Historically speaking hormones are made by glands, not by nerve cells.  

The gland makes the hormone, stores and then releases it to travel to its end organ receptor which may be some distance away. Insulin, a major regulatory hormone of the body is made and stored in the pancreas and then travels in the blood to the muscles, liver, and brain,  Now, as it turns out insulin is not just a hormone.  

In fact, according to Dr. Pert, insulin is a hormone and also a neuro-peptide, because it is also made and stored in the brain, not just in the pancreas.  There are also insulin receptors in the brain.   

Insulin has been found in hot spots in the amygdala and hypothalamus,  parts of the limbic system of the brain, the seat of emotions .  Within the limbic system are the highest concentration of neuro-peptide receptors.  

Neuroscientists agree that emotions are mediated by the limbic system of the brain. The limbic system is a pathway within the brain which includes the hypothalamus (controls the homeostatic mechanism of the body such as temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and metabolic rate, and is sometimes called the “brain” of the brain), the pituitary gland (which regulates the hormones in the body), and the amygdala (which processes and memorizes emotional reactions). 

Electrodes placed on the brain over the amygdala evoke a whole gamut of emotions such as powerful reactions of grief, pain, and pleasure associated with profound memories, and also the total bodily accompanying sensations. This area also mediates behaviors such as sexuality and appetite. 

We all tend to matter-of-factly presume that emotions are in the head or the brain. Well they are really in the body as well.  Emotions are expressed in the body and are part of the body. 

As Dr. Pert points out, the hormone system, which historically has been studied as being separate from the brain, is conceptually the same thing as the nervous system. The immune system is also included in this intercommunication.

These emotion-affecting bio-chemicals control the movements of monocytes which are vital immune blood cells. Monocytes communicate with B-cells and T-cells, interacting with the whole system to fight disease and to distinguish between self and non-self, deciding which part of the body is a tumor cell to be killed by natural killer cells, and which part is not.  

Dr. Pert My argues that the three classic areas of Medicine, neuroscience, endocrinology, and immunology, with their various organs—the brain (which is the key organ that the neuroscientists study), the glands which produce hormones, and the immune system (consisting of the spleen, the bone marrow, the lymph nodes, and immune blood cells)—that these three areas are actually joined to each other in a bi-directional network of communication and that the information “carriers” are the neuro -peptides. 

An excellent example of a hormone that is also a neuro -peptide and exerts powerful physical changes within the body is oxytocin.  Oxytocin is released from the pituitary gland in the brain but can also be made in such faraway spots as the ovaries in women and the testes in men.  

Oxytocin controls uterine contraction and milk letdown after childbirth. It also affects emotion and behavior from sexual arousal to feelings of trust, intimacy, and bonding, to learning and memory. 

We may conclude that all systems of the body communicate via neuro-peptides and it is the internal feeling or emotion that causes the neuro-peptide response. This is the mind-body connection in which every change in the mind/feeling state precipitates a change in the body physiology.  

Likewise, every change in the body physiology causes a change in the mental-emotional state. (Pert 1997) Further more, neuro-peptides link emotions and feelings with muscular and behavior patterns and completes the mind-body connection.   

How does all of this information apply to our lives on a practical day to day level?  Let’s look at two different generalizations of personality types that can be predictive of the kinds of chronic disease that tend to affect these types with greater frequency than the general population.  

When we feel a certain emotion, we speak a certain way, we assume a certain look on our faces, and we hold our bodies with a particular degree of tension or relaxation. The brain releases chemicals that interact with glands, hormones and the immune system to cause far reaching and dramatic effects.

A study from the Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, U.K, entitled Cancer, personality and stress: Prediction and prevention by H.J. Eysenck presents the position that there exists a cancer prone, Type C personality that experiences a higher incidence of cancer and related morbidity and mortality than the general population based on certain personality traits. 

Type C is characterized by a tendency to suppress emotions like anxiety and anger, and present a bland surface. This personality type finds it difficult to cope with stress, and develops feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, and finally depression.  

Modern work supports this theory quite strongly, both by controlled comparisons between cancer and other types of patients, and by prospective studies in which healthy cancer prone subjects are followed up for up to 15 years and compared with subjects who are not cancer-prone, for mortality from and incidence of cancer. Intervention studies show that psychological therapy can both prevent cancer from arising, and prolong life in terminal cancer patients.  

Psychosocial determinants are an important risk factor for cancer by affecting the immune system and also by interacting synergistically with other risk factors such as smoking, and genetics. 

Another personality type that is very well known is Type A described some fifty years ago by San Francisco cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman. Type A is impatient, extremely competitive, always in a hurry and chronically angry, or hostile. They are also extremely hard working and have difficulty relaxing without feeling guilty, Type A has a high incidence of coronary artery disease and heart attack. 

There is no doubt that what we feel emotionally affects the physical functions of the body which over the long term can make the difference between sickness and health.  We must become aware of our specific tendencies so that we may take the necessary steps to avoid disaster.

(Editor’s Note: The information in this article represents the opinion of the author and is not intended to be construed as an endorsement or promotion by Crucians In Focus of any of the information herein.)

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