The mind-body relationship refers to the interactions that occur between the human body and the mind. Related to this relationship is the mind-body problem, which refers to whether the body and the mind are part of the same system / thing or if they are separate parts.
Mental processes occur in the mind that are not observable (they are only inferred by behavior), while in the body there are measurable and observable physical aspects, such as cells, organs and systems.
Mens sana in corpore sana is an expression well known to all of us and that alludes to something that perhaps we are not fully aware of: the powerful relationship that exists between our body and our mind.
Although nowadays this expression is used to allude that a healthy and balanced mind is within a healthy body, it is actually a Latin expression that we find in the Satires of Juvenal (I and II AD) and that refers to the need to pray to have a balanced spirit in a balanced body, too.
This approach, which is becoming more and more important every day, lies in how what we feel conditions our body and vice versa. Who has not suffered from some muscle pain and / or discomfort and everything was related to inappropriate emotional management?
Descartes dualism
This approach has a long history and various intellectuals, philosophers and doctors have spoken about the mind-body relationship.
A clear example is René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician and physicist, whose theory was called substantial dualism (or Cartesian) and is based on the fact that the soul and body are substances of different nature and that, at all, they were related to each other. other.
At this time, the thinkers asked themselves that, being totally different facts, the things that affected one of them also did it in the other?
There is still no answer to this approach but, to offer an explanation, Descartes spoke of the pineal gland to which he assigned the place where communication between the soul and the body would be established.
Throughout the centuries, various authors and philosophical currents have tried to answer this question. Among others, we find the following:
- Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677), Dutch philosopher who proposed a monistic approach. He postulated that these two facts were not different extensions, but were attributes with the same origin (God or nature).
- Nicolás Malebranche (1638 - 1715), French philosopher and theologian, developer of occasionalism. According to him, when a movement occurs in the soul, God intervenes by making a movement in the body and vice versa.
- Gottfried Liebniz (1646 - 1716), German philosopher, logician, mathematician, jurist, librarian and politician, known as "the last universal genius" and who stated that at the time of creation, God established a perfect harmony between the two substances.
Subsequently, new approaches emerged that questioned Cartesian theory, such as:
- Empiricism and positivism, demolished the concept of substance, thus eliminating the dualism raised by Descartes.
- Darwin's approach and his theory of evolutionism went further. The Cartesian theory stated that animals did not have a soul, a concept that was treated by Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882), who established the possibility that animals could have minds.
- Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalysis (1856 - 1939) that, through the approach of unconscious thoughts and their relationship with our behavior, overthrew Cartesian dualism.
This relationship is so important that the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948, when approving its constitution, defined health as:
"State of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not only the absence of disease or illness."
Although he does not talk about this relationship, he does emphasize the importance that to be healthy, we not only have to be healthy on a physical level, but also psychologically and also on a social level.
Non-verbal communication
Closely related to the title of this post, is non-verbal communication. And it is that, "our gestures give us away." Many times, we think that by not speaking, we do not communicate and it is usually, rather, the opposite. It is a mistake to think that our non-verbal communication is only made up of our gestures, there is much more.
Our non-verbal language can be noises, either organic (when our guts are pounding because we are hungry) or constructed by ourselves when we whistle or hum a song.
This type of language is also present in the objects that decorate a room or our way of dressing and the accessories that accompany us and, even, the makeup we use.
Closely related to this section, we find the theory of the anthropologist Albert Mehrabian, who postulated how strong is the impact of our language on emotions. He stated that the emotional charge of our non-verbal language represents 55% and this refers to the posture we adopt, our gestures and our gaze and, even, our breathing.
Regarding the paraverbal (intonation, projection, tone, emphasis, etc.) it is 38% and finally, what represents verbal language is estimated to be approximately 7%.
There are many detractors of this theory, but it is important that we reconsider how non-verbal language and, also, paraverbal language plays a special role in our communication and that if we learn to modulate it, we can be better communicators.
Dimensions that make up human beings
In order to treat human beings in a comprehensive way, we must bear in mind that we are made up of different dimensions that are related to each other and that they should not be analyzed in isolation.
These dimensions are the result of the interaction between genetics and context, as well as the baggage of each one of us and our experiences. These are:
- The social / cultural dimension refers to the interaction with other people. To complete most human needs, it is essential to interact with others, the growth of the human being by itself is almost unattainable.
Since we are born we live in a society that favors our adaptation to the environment. This fact affects the construction of one's own identity (of the self) and thus, feelings of belonging to the group are generated.
- The biological dimension refers to the fact that the person is a multicellular organism and that it interacts with the environment.
- The psychological / emotional dimension is one that focuses on the mind. People are goal-directed beings and we have capacities that do not allow us to achieve them and develop the different activities in which we participate.
It is of crucial importance to remember that the mind exists because the body exists. One system depends on the other in order to complete the result.
- The spiritual dimension refers to, most likely, the most intimate and deep space of a person and that allows him to give meaning to his actions.
When we speak of spirituality, we are not referring to certain beliefs. But for the person to have beliefs to cling to. This dimension is especially relevant in harsh and emotionally charged situations, such as suffering from a disease with a serious prognosis.
Bibliography
- Álvarez Marañón, G. (2009). Debunking the Mehrabian Myth in Presentations. The art of thinking.
- Castro, A. (2014). Bioenergetics and Gestalt. An integrative vision. Zuhaizpe Vital Health Center.
- Human Space. (2013). Bioenergetics. Human Space.
- Lowen, A. Lowen, L. (1989). Bioenergetics exercises. Madrid: Sirius.
- Ramos, M. (1997). An Introduction to Gestalt Therapy.
- Ruiz, MC (2013). The Characteristic and Muscular Cuirass.
- TCI. (2014). What is TCI. Integrative Body Therapy.