Boundaries. Introjects from our childhood help us create boundaries. These messages are hardwired and so each time boundaries are challenged, our emotional intergrity is wounded, causing a stress reaction. Continual breach can then lead to ill health. People have different reactions when their boundaries are breached, aggression or withdrawal being typical reactions. Some cultivate feelings of inadequacy and/or suppressed emotions, terribly unhealthy. Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology (PNI) informs us of how the functions of the glands and organs that regulate our physiological balance and behaviour are interrelated, enabling us to recognise threats to our boundaries. Humans need different emotions for the activation of various biological processes, hormonal activity etc though through healthy processes. We need endorphins, oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine activated at various times to keep us happy and cortisol and adrenaline amongst other are released when threatened. Stress, unmanaged, becomes chronic which produces high levels of cortisol, unhealthy for us. Continuous breach of boundaries increases stress levels. Continuous blurred boundaries hard wire the wrong signals in the brain, affecting us throughout our lives, creating self doubt that could lead to anxieties, fears, and triggers attachment issues. We all are important individuals and need to be respected as such, however we must know the difference between keeping healthy boundaries and emotions that are activated due to unhealthy relationships. Your Therapist can work with your through these issues to support you. Let your health be your wealth. References: Bowlby, J, 1980. Loss. Basic Books. Lipton, B. H., 2015 The Biology of Belief. Inleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles. Hay House. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.105102
