What is Psychologically "Normal"?
All people experience sadness, as a normal, healthy emotion. If statistics can be believed, then most people in our society will face depression at some point in their lives, which is distinct from sadness in that it can be characterized as an emotional dysfunction.
At the extremes, it's easy to distinguish between the two. Someone who feels unhappy for a day or two because they've lost their job is clearly distinct from someone whose despair has led them out onto the ledge of an extremely tall building. But what about the gray area between? At the borderline, at what point does sadness stop being normal and start being abnormal?
This is just one example on the spectrum of human emotions. Any individual human action, like getting angry, might be healthy in a singular context, but at what point is anger no longer healthy? I've heard these kinds of questions come up frequently. Who are we to judge what is "normal"? It's not a clearly delineated situation between yin and yang. Our judgments of ourselves and others are not only tainted by our own perceptions, but the judgments don't seem to have a relative, and not an absolute, basis for evaluation.
Naturally, I'm not a psychologist, so it would be somewhat irresponsible of me to make any claims, but here's what I think: we are only psychologically healthy to the extent that we have close relationships with others in our lives, and that those relationships are emotionally healthy.
Of course, then you'd ask how many close relationships with others a person needs to be considered healthy. I don't know. And how are we to gauge if our relationships are "emotionally healthy" or not? It's hard to judge ourselves accurately, but I believe that if a person takes a long, hard look at their own relationships, they'll find the answer to that question.
At the extremes, it's easy to distinguish between the two. Someone who feels unhappy for a day or two because they've lost their job is clearly distinct from someone whose despair has led them out onto the ledge of an extremely tall building. But what about the gray area between? At the borderline, at what point does sadness stop being normal and start being abnormal?
This is just one example on the spectrum of human emotions. Any individual human action, like getting angry, might be healthy in a singular context, but at what point is anger no longer healthy? I've heard these kinds of questions come up frequently. Who are we to judge what is "normal"? It's not a clearly delineated situation between yin and yang. Our judgments of ourselves and others are not only tainted by our own perceptions, but the judgments don't seem to have a relative, and not an absolute, basis for evaluation.
Naturally, I'm not a psychologist, so it would be somewhat irresponsible of me to make any claims, but here's what I think: we are only psychologically healthy to the extent that we have close relationships with others in our lives, and that those relationships are emotionally healthy.
Of course, then you'd ask how many close relationships with others a person needs to be considered healthy. I don't know. And how are we to gauge if our relationships are "emotionally healthy" or not? It's hard to judge ourselves accurately, but I believe that if a person takes a long, hard look at their own relationships, they'll find the answer to that question.