The mind-body disconnect - part two.

An alternative route of speculation, and a far less sensitive one, is to further examine the mind-body disconnect in women.  The fact that women are not consciously in sync with their physical arousal may leave room to question this weakness in relation to depression, eating disorders, and other diet/exercise related issues.

A quick lesson in emotion:  emotion is a part of our autonomic nervous system, part of our peripheral nervous system, which is wired through our limbic system.  You know how a hug can make you feel really happy?  That's the peripheral nervous system at work.  That's the mind-body connection.  When you get sick and maybe experience irritability, again, that's the mind-body connection.  Simply put, when our bodies feel bad, our minds feel bad, and vice versa.  So what happens when that link is fuzzy?

I'm going to use the example of diet soda, and also use an anecdote to make a point (I can hear my Psych professors weeping now).  Diet soda, in essence, is one of the worst things you can put in your body.  More specifically, the aspartame found in diet soda is one of the worst things you can put in your body.  Essentially, there are elements of aspartame that your body cannot properly break down and dispose of.  One specifically to focus on is methyl alcohol.  When put into your body, methyl alcohol becomes formaldehyde and rests as a toxin within your body.  Toxin, or poison, obviously is not a good thing to have inside your body and is apt to make it feel bad.  Victims of aspartame poisoning report a wide range of symptoms, some of which have been diagnosed as MS, brain tumors, etc.  Several people who have gone through detoxification have seen a reduction in symptoms, sometimes even in tumor size.  For more information, seek out a documentary called "Sweet Misery."  There is information within the documentary for further resources if you are interested.

So, back to the point.  In all essence, aspartame is pretty bad stuff and is bound to make your body feel bad. As we know, when your body feels bad, so does your brain.  Cue my anecdote.  I watch my sister suck down bottles of diet soda a day (and this doesn't include other diet foods she's eating, which may contain dangerous chemicals as well).  At the same time, I hear her talking about her continuing struggle with depression and a need to increase or change her medication.  I cannot help but wonder if my sister is a victim of mind-body disconnect.  I can't imagine that her body is fairing well after years of drinking diet soda, and yet she is focused solely on what is going on with her mind.  I try to encourage her to really pay attention to how she feels after she eats or drinks anything, but judging from her medicine cabinet, headaches and the like are annoying yet trivial aspects of life that she is not willing to invest much time in - aside from picking up an extra large bottle of ibuprofen whenever she goes to Costco.

It's no secret that depression affects women disproportionately, and I wonder if that has anything to do with possible disconnection.  Women live in a society where thin is in for them, and I have to wonder how many women shop specifically for a diet fad, and how many of them are suffering the consequences.  Any processed food is bound to have a negative impact on the body - we humans are neither processed nor genetically modified, so I am curious as to why we are expected to eat these things.  

Furthermore, we live in a society where we are becoming less and less active with each generation.  We are eager to say we are tired because we are depressed or depressed because we're tired.  We're also quick to blame the world - work weeks that are too long, a failing economy.  Our reasoning is more of a cycle of illogic.  If we're tired and depressed, it's likely that we've spent too many nights loafing on the couch.  If we're stressed about work or the world, we might seek solace in television and comfort food, even though we should be choosing a treadmill.  I imagine that if we took a look at the numbers, we'd find men sweating out their stress more than women.  More than that, I know we'd find more women with unhealthy relationships with food - whether it be eating too much or too little or throwing it up.  I'd argue that there's more than a casual arrow between depression and eating disorders.  I think it would be possible to hypothesize that at the very least, the eating disorder acts as a catalyst for the depression, especially as the body starts to really break down.

I'll end here - tonight has been productive for my my mind, but again, it is all in speculation.  As always, this journal comes with a disclaimer.  That is, I'm not a professional, I'm a student.  This is a place for me to share concepts I find interesting and sort through some of my own ideas on topics.  If I make any exceptional points in class or on a paper, I'll be sure to share.  Still, I'm not a doctor or licensed professional.  I cannot counsel you, recommend you change your medication, or give you the green light to start a diet and exercise routine.  Your doctor can talk about these things with you.  All I can do is provide food for thought, and maybe offer you some topics to bring up to your doctor or therapist.


If I have it in me, I'll try to expand on that article some more later.  There were so many elements of it, and so many things to say about each one.  I have a lot to say about Diamond's research.  Although lacking in external validity (she didn't include heterosexual women in her studies), her topic is fascinating and one I'd like to explore.  Rape fantasies and desire vs. power and narcissism, and how that might relate to the loss of sexual desire a woman may feel in long term relationships.  Not to mention buffering her statements from claims of misogynistic undertones in her theories.  Really, read the article again and think.  It's not as sexist as it sounds.