Each person reacts differently to guilt. Experts advise not to become obsessed with forgiveness, moderate reactions to a negative act and know how to forget as soon as possible. In practice, however, things are not so easy and excessive awareness can become pathological.
No one is free to make a mistake, make unfair judgments or act in the wrong way. Sometimes, without meaning to, we hurt even the most loved ones. When that happens, it is very likely that a deep feeling of guilt invades us and that remorse emerges.
In this situation it is not good to worry too much, in fact, we have all felt guilty more than once. The problem begins when these sensations exceed normal limits and we cannot deal with them naturally. That is when guilt becomes a harmful feeling because it reduces self-esteem, seriously impairs the quality of life, undermines relationships and can even affect physical well-being.
Guilt is a social force
- Guilt is a necessary social force and thanks to it many of the laws that regulate the behavior of modern societies have been born. It is an essential part of humanity and those who lack it suffer from personality disorders, are known antisocials or psychopaths. At the individual level it is a positive emotional tool that tells us when something is wrong.
- This feeling is created by human beings as a result of the violation of their values, as defined by the Association for the Study of Enjoyment (ARISE), which studies the relationship between guilt, pleasure and health. According to its director, professor of psychopharmacology David Warburton, guilt is a stressor that activates the biochemical mechanisms of stress and, since it is related to a past action, it can only be alleviated by repair or, in some religions, by confession.
- It has been shown that the more rigid societies are, the greater the feeling of guilt generated among their members, as occurred at various times in history with Orthodox Jews, for example. It is also interesting that, according to surveys carried out by ARISE, women tend to feel guiltier than men, even in similar situations. This explains many of the behaviors also associated with forgiveness, where we women tend to behave in a more understanding way.
Guilt prevents a woman’s pleasure
- Guilt prevents pleasure and becomes pathological when it interferes with a person’s normal behavior. In this case, therapy is necessary. But as if that were not enough, new laws are currently being propagated, fortunately unwritten, linked to health that certain vulnerable sectors of the population assume with such passion that they have become almost a religion and are a daily source of dissatisfaction and guilt.
- This new philosopher’s stone does a lot of damage because it divides human activities into sources of health or disease, just as some religions tell us what is virtuous and what is condemnable. The new sect of health is growing dangerously among the Western middle classes for whom the cult of health has become their path to salvation.
- Today’s sins are smoking, drinking, not jogging, not going to the gym or eating “junk food”, for example. Certainly it is these habits of life that we have questioned even from this blog, but the problem is in the behavior that we assume with respect to them. It will never do you good to feel guilty after every puff of smoke, or after every drink. Yes, it’s important to become aware of the damage you’re doing to yourself in the first place, but without becoming obsessed with it. The worst that can happen to you is that you get sick running after health.