Mental Health is a broad term to be taken into consideration. It not only includes the actions, attitudes well-being but it also includes under its span the kind of emotions one feels, in fact, if we take a look at it collectively the attitudes, actions, and well-being are all connected to our emotions and how they make us feel. This feeling can be categorised as the feeling through actions, the feelings through what we speak or how these emotions are manifested in our lifestyles and how they act in a neurological way to enact a certain kind of feeling.
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Emotions are varied
Ekman gave six types of emotions which are termed as universal and are common across all cultures and they are named as: Happiness, Surprise, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness. These emotions remain universal. Looking through them closely if we observe in our surroundings these emotions take the turn of different names to be presented to us.
One experiences the feeling of sadness with the loss of loved ones that is because of the environment and if we look from the perspective of biology or neurology the neurotransmitters responsible are dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. The combination of these three is also a cause for depression i.e. low dopamine and serotonin and norepinephrine can cause depression.
While dopamine is also a pleasure hormone, it is said that dopamine detox is necessary. A limited amount of dopamine is required to maintain everything in balance. Happiness is experienced as a result of something pleasurable you have seen or felt. Passing the exam or getting a dream job is a cause of dopamine release.
The emotion of fear is so natural when you get stuck somewhere and are unable to get out of the situation, it makes you anxious and the mood of worry arises within the person releasing another neurotransmitter known as Gama-aminobutyric acid (GABA). It is also known as the only inhibitory neurotransmitter.
In sum, it can be understood that the kind of emotions we feel are a result of the feelings that are interconnected to the chemistry of the body to produce a certain felt emotion. But there are plenty of other explanations for the role of emotions and how they are felt by the person in the form of theories.
Charles Darwin a major proponent of evolutionary theory has proposed that emotions exist because they allow the human being or the animal to survive in the web of existence. Emotions motivate people to develop goals, seek them and motivate us to have a successful accomplishment. The emotions of love help us to develop an understanding of care, trust and respect while the emotion of fear helps us to take action in the direction of fight or flight.
Another popular theory in the same field was given by William James and Carl Lange. This theory has reinforced the idea that first there are physiological changes and then the emotion is felt. The popular understanding of this theory is that the Cart before the Horse. For example, while walking on the road out of nowhere you see a snake, the legs become stiff and you are unable to move now so there is fear produced.
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So according to this theory, fear is produced because there is a stimulus that has made you stiff in one place which is causing you the fear, In other words, it can be said that there are physiological reactions first and then the emotions are felt. The perception of internal states makes us feel what we feel.
Disagreements happen because that is something that gives rise to many other theories and viewpoints. A similar viewpoint which is very prevalent in recent times is that physiological states are independent of the emotions felt. One might feel low because he or she is unwell. In other words, the theory can be explained as we experience shaky hands or trembling because we are fearful or anxious about something. We experience the physiological changes and the emotions felt at the same time not because something is causing the other.
There are varied explanations of emotions the arousal, the response and the after-happening. In between these another variation occurs is that of the physiological arousal occurring then the process unveils of identifying the reason for the happening. It often occurs that we feel upset many times and feel the need to cry too much and somewhere we are not aware of the reason behind this. When we cry after one is relaxed we try to figure out the reason and here it stands as for suppose the long-term feeling of burnout or stress that is caused because of the environment and making you feel sad or anxious.
In sum looking at all of it in a gist emotions that we see through the face of the individual are many times the same feeling the person is feeling while many times it happens that the reactions happen automatically and we identify the reason after happening. Emotions have always remained a subject of curiosity and they are complex and easy at the same time it is just that the way of experiencing and feeling remains different but the composition of both environment and biology remains the same.
