Stress causes mental illness, and mental illness is the inability to han-
dle stress. Stress makes us uptight, cranky, and drives us to drink. Stress
keeps us awake at night and makes us want to sleep all the time. Stress is
a noun, a verb, an adjective, the source of all suffering. And an answer to
every question that begins with What’s wrong ...?
Stress is the external cause for most everything in ourselves and our
world that we dislike but do not fully understand. Not too long ago it used
to be called evil spirits. What used to be called good spiritsis now called
self-esteem.
Mental health is famous for coming up with concepts that explain
everything. Of course, anything that explains everything means nothing.
Is it stress itself that causes the problems, or is it people’s response to
stress? All of us can think of stressful events that have destroyed some folks
and caused others to grow and change for the better. The difference is,
the ones who survive believe, even erroneously, that they have some con-
trol over what happens to them. This one simple belief is the source of all
healing of mental disorders, regardless of their cause.
So now we’re back to the original question: What’s wrong with these
people? The answers call to mind the fable of the blind men and the ele-
phant, described previously.
No wonder explosive people are so confused, and we are so confused
about them. With so many expert opinions about what mental disorders
are, where they come from, who should treat them and how, who wouldn’t
be confused? The important thing is not letting what we already know
blind us to what is still out there to learn.
We may never know for certain what the elephant looks like, but we
still have to clean up after him, and house-train him if we can.
48 ❧Emotional Explosions