Wright State Physicians Family Medicine has continued their educational series of “Brain Matters” with their session of ‘Managing Negative Emotions”.
This session was presented by Paul Hershberger, Ph.D., a clinical health psychologist and director of behavioral science for the Family Medicine Residency Program.
The idea for “Brain Matters” came from an ongoing wellness program offered at Wright State to discuss how the brain functions and what can be done to contribute to having positive mental health.
The goal is to promote a healthy well-being instead of catering to a mental illness that has already formed. Educating the public about properly handling negative emotions can significantly decrease stress for the body and mind.
“The leading causes of death are chronic illnesses,” Hershberger said. “Many of the factors that increase our risk for these illnesses are behavioral, and managing our behavior is a huge part of how we do with managing these factors.”
This session stressed how the nature of the economy can be crippling for people with mental illness. Due to most jobs requiring interaction with people or managing information, illnesses such as depression can hinder the ability to maintain functionality in the work environment.
Hershberger began the session with a simple question: “If your emotions were a car, who do you want to be in the driver seat?”
While using this analogy, Hershberger explained the importance of being able to control emotions, instead of giving the power to someone else.
The purpose of this session was to not only to discuss healthy ways to manage negative emotions, but to educate how these negative emotions have an impact on physical health.
“One of the things we know about health, is that when people experience a preponderance of negative emotions, that constitutes a pretty significant health risk,” Hershberger said. “We often don’t think about it, but depression alone is an independent risk for health disease.”
These sessions will continue to be offered on the second Thursday of every month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Wright State University Physicians Health Center in Classroom 1. For more information, contact Elizabeth McCarter at (937)-245-7213.
