The effects of envy on health

Popular wisdom says that envy makes you sick. More than a feeling, That visceral jealousy is a highly invasive and complex passion.. They involve anger, sadness, stress and frustration. For this reason, they have great effects on the body and mind.

Although envy is widely discredited, it is most likely that it is unknown territory for any human being. On the other hand, compared to the common, we also find individual differences: some manage to overcome it, while others allow it to grow like a weed and take over many spaces in life. This is when this can have repercussions on health.

As a deep and complex passion that it is, it demands good emotional intelligence for its management. It is necessary carry out work to dismantle it or put a limit on it, at least. An investment that is worth it if we take into account the consequences of maintaining it over time.

Envy and physical health

A passion as intense as envy causes great stress. Tension is given by the presence of two opposing forces. On the one hand, there is the person who envies; and on the other, the envied one. The usual thing is that the latter advances, grows and progresses, while those who look at it with jealousy stagnate, regress and do not see the fruit of its efforts.

Envy is defined, in essence, as anger and sadness for the good of others. Therefore, this tension between what is desired and what happens in practice is implicit in that passion. In turn, this translates into physiology and corporality. Stress alters the functioning of the body.

Many people who envy intensely can suffer from stomach problems.. It is not uncommon for gastritis or ulcers to occur due to continuous stress. Likewise, it is common for the immune system to weaken and not react adequately to infectious agents.

Migraines, a feeling of fatigue, skin problems and bruxism are also common symptoms in those who walk the path of the envious. The root of all this is in what has already been mentioned: stress.. The desire for something bad to happen to someone and the realization that the opposite happens produces anguish and suffering that is reflected in the body.

The complex paths of envy

According to the interpretation of psychoanalysis, we do not envy others for what they have, for what they are or for what they do. What causes pain in the envious person is the satisfaction, pleasure or comfort that the other experiences with it.. Finally, that’s what can’t really be taken away.

That is the reason why the envious person does not feel satisfied., even when he deprives the other of that which, apparently, unleashes his jealousy. If the colleague has a better position and by some means is able to get him fired, there will be momentary satisfaction. Later, the envious person will find someone new to be jealous of.

What happens in these cases is that someone looks through others, as if they were a mirror.. He despises his own and gives excessive value to what is another’s, not because of the value of what the other person has in itself, but because he hates the idea of ​​him enjoying it. Therefore, he feels immensely frustrated when the other loses or is defeated and, even so, he continues to feel good.

Envy can, and must, be defeated

Obsessive passions cause damage to mental and physical health. For this reason, it is advisable to abandon this practice of becoming one’s own executioner. There is no one who is hurt more by envy than those who feel it. In the long term, these complicated feelings take their toll on the body.

Envy usually falls behind when we are able to find a basis in two pillars. The first is to see the other in a comprehensive way. As a human being, he enjoys many things, but that does not mean that he does not have his own problems or suffering. Just because someone doesn’t know them, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

The second thing is to turn your eyes on yourself, instead of having them placed on another. The idea is to focus on your own efforts, plans, achievements and failures. Focus on personal evolution, leaving aside the personal process that others carry out.

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