Emotions are like a fluid-state, words give them a structure and boundaries. It is said that, generally, a man uses around 3000 words in a normal day conversation. Every day language gives most people a chance to express their emotions. Each culture has its unique words, idioms and expressions for conveying emotional distress.
Experts in the filed of language would tell us that there are more words to express negative emotions then positive emotions. Roughly around 1000 words described positive emotions, while around 2000 describe negative emotions. Just as one example, there are around 264 words to describe the emotion of sadness – words like ‘despondent’, ‘sullen’, ‘heavy-hearted’, ‘moody’, woeful’, ‘grievous’, tearful’, melancholy’, – yet only 105 to describe cheerfulness, as in ‘blithe’, ‘jaunty’, ‘perky’, zestful’, and ‘buoyant’. No wonder people feel bad than they feel good.
Words, wire us to the way we feel, having a feedback effect on emotional centers in our brain. One can also say that the way we feel, will generally be determine by habitual choice of words. When we wake up in the morning, first thing most people do is scan their mood. Every day we have a choice of feeling some where from bored, disinterested, down, low, depressed or excited, exhilarated, enthralled, engaged and exuberant.. The label you will put will determine the general tone of the day.
Urdu language has its unique expression of emotions. These can be quite dramatic, at times. From ‘Yasi’, ‘Udasi’, ‘na-ummedi’ to ‘Khafgan’, each convey a different emotional state. Having root words derived from Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Urdu has a rich background of emotional lexicons.
All of us are familiar with agony aunt, who is full of woes. She complains of problems from head to toe. There is a burning and stretching on the temples, while heaviness on the nape of the neck. Similarly there is heaviness on the chest, which scares the hell out of you – with the impending heart attack that never happens. All the while this is going; some thing is definitely wrong with the stomach, from churning sensation to bouts of bloody diarrhea. This is despite the bulging belly and visibly prosperous health. One wonders, if all this chubbiness is with these complains, then what would happen if she would really fall ill. Ill she is, but in her mind and soul. There is little recognition that all these non-specific aches and pains can herald a mental health problem.
It has been said that South Asians use more somatic metaphors to express their emotional distress – called somatisation by some circles in the west. Expression of pain, like headaches, non-specific muscular aches and pains are sighted as an example. Though, some of these symptoms are part and parcel of emotional distress. Conditions like anxiety disorders, stress disorders and depression have physical and psychological manifestations. Bordering these syndromes are non-specific expressions like ‘Jigar-khoon’, ‘dil-malish’ and ubiquitous ‘gas’ concerns.
It is not that there is dearth of expression in Urdu, what gets the attention of emotionally significant others and health care providers, will determine the unconscious choice of words. To label these symptoms as somatisation is superficial and demeaning. An accurate understanding of the culture, in which emotions are expressed, is a prerequisite before such sweeping judgments can be made. Contrarily, it can be said that people in the west are psychologizers, if not overly concerned about the communication strategies – at the cost of missing the emotional lexicons.
Common conditions which can mask there multiple, medically un-explained symptoms can be a common mental disorder i.e. depression and anxiety. These are psychiatric conditions, which are not so uncommon. Statistics tell is that every third Pakistani is suffering from common mental disorder. These are twice more common in females then males. It remains unrecognized in the community settings. However, about 30% to 50% visits to general practitioners (G.P) are due to common mental disorders. G.P’s often miss these conditions, as patients’ presents with non-specific symptoms, which are not part of psychiatric nomenclature.
Alexithymia is a condition in which person is incapable of expressing his emotions in words. With advancement in neurosciences, it has become apparent that in this condition, the neuronal connectivity between the centers for emotions and word expression is under-developed. This has lead researchers to understand the true nature of emotions and their expressions.
Limbic system is the center in the brain that is the seat for emotions. Generally these are primitive in nature. Through neuronal circuitry these centers are connected to frontal cortex, higher center for human behavior, emotions and personality. There are different centers in the brain for word expression and understanding – called Broca’s and Wernicke’s area. There are association areas which coordinate various activities of understanding and expression. Damages to any of these areas by brain injury, insult or stroke leads to problems in communication. This has, however, guided understanding of human brain through research.
Generally brain divides its work, with each area specializing in a particular function. Language and emotional expression is one such example of specialized function. It is not surprising that we find more refrained expression of emotions in educated individuals and communities. Education and refinement lead people to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation.
We, in contrast to developed countries are seen as a nation which resorts to violence, arson and looting when it comes to expression of dislike (to put it mildly). Perhaps time has come when we should, as a nation and individuals, learn more about language and emotions, rather then technology stemming from Einstein’s equation of e=mc2
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