“Mental pain”, “mental anguish” - a painful feeling of internal tension, accompanied by melancholy and a feeling of heaviness (or pressure) in the chest, in the region of the heart.
The feeling that “the soul hurts” is familiar to almost every person who has experienced the bitterness of losing something important.
The severity of suffering and the severity of “mental pain” can reach such a degree that it becomes unbearable and difficult to describe suffering. Psychiatrists distinguish two types of behavior in cases of severe mental pain: stupor (when a person freezes in horror, “freezes” without moving) and agitation (throws around, cannot find peace for himself, is accompanied by screams and aggression towards himself).
Unexpressed mental pain may not appear outwardly. Only by questioning can one find out about the presence of such suffering.
The mechanism for the development of the feeling of “pain in the soul” is associated with a violation of the ratio of excitation and inhibition processes in the brain, activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary system of the central nervous system, and changes in the balance in the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. The feeling of “pain in the soul” may be accompanied by:
- Insomnia, early awakenings or increased sleepiness;
- Feelings of anxiety, apathy, melancholy;
- Pain or discomfort in different parts of the body;
- Increase or decrease in temperature;
- Temporary and reversible disorders of the digestive system (constipation or diarrhea, lack of appetite), cardiovascular system (palpitations, arrhythmias, blood pressure fluctuations), respiratory system (shortness of breath, feeling of lack of air, feeling of incomplete inspiration).
- Weight loss;
- Hormonal and immune disorders (usually reversible).
Mental pain is a normal reaction of a healthy body to bereavement or grief. Mental pain can also be a symptom of a nervous system disease or mental disorder.
The most common cause of mental pain is depression. The presence of a feeling of “pain in the soul” indicates a severe depressive episode. With depression, “mental pain” is most pronounced in the morning and first half of the day, accompanied by melancholy and a feeling of guilt. In severe cases, it is accompanied by suicidal thoughts, which is an indication for urgent consultation with a psychiatrist.
In addition to depression, mental pain occurs in reactive states (adaptation disorders and disorders of adaptive reactions), poisoning (for example, alcohol or drug withdrawal), other endogenous diseases and the consequences of organic brain damage.
How to help someone experiencing mental pain
The first is to try to talk to him, calm him down and try to assess the severity of mental suffering. Sincere empathy can ease the “mental anguish.”
If during a conversation it turns out that mental pain has arisen recently and can be fully explained by external reasons (there is a real loss of something or someone significant), then you should distract with conversation, try to put the person to sleep, rest and sleep should bring relief. In such cases, you can follow the rule “TIME HEALS”.
If it is clear that the “pain in the soul” is prolonged, accompanied by weight loss, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts, then you should not wait, but consult a psychiatrist to assess the condition. If the situation allows, arrange a consultation with a psychiatrist either in a clinic, or invite a doctor to your home. In extreme cases, call emergency medical services.
A very powerful prayer when everything is bad in your life
A famous saying says that the darkest time comes before the dawn. Living with such a motto is much easier, but everyone’s strength of character is different. While some people carry a heavy load on their shoulders for years, others break down at the first difficulties. Both equally need moral support and the opportunity to speak out.
In difficult situations, believers call on the Higher Powers. Prayer is a kind of therapy, because a person can sincerely pour out his soul without fear of condemnation. Communication with God and the patron saints calms you down, puts you in a positive mood and inspires hope for the best. There are even special texts that help mobilize forces even in the most extreme conditions. Who and how to pray if a dark streak has come in life. You can turn to the Lord, the Mother of God, your Guardian Angel, the saint after whom you were named, or to God's saints. It is advisable to have an icon of the person to whom your petition will be addressed. Remember that you cannot wish harm to other people or demand solutions to problems in ways that contradict the commandments of Christianity. Ask to become stronger, more resilient, to endure the trials that have befallen you with honor, and real support from the Higher Powers will not keep you waiting.
A very powerful prayer that gives strengthBelow is the text of one of the main miraculous prayers addressed to the Lord. These words contain colossal power. Read it in moments of despair and you will feel instant relief. The appeal will help you overcome any adversity in life and emerge victorious from a difficult situation with dignity.
May God rise again, and may His enemies be scattered, and may those who hate Him flee from His presence. Like the smoke disappears; let them disappear; just as wax melts in the face of fire, so let demons perish from the face of those who love God and signify themselves with the sign of the cross, and who say in joy: Rejoice, Most Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, drive away the demons by force on you of our Lord Jesus Christ, who descended into hell and straightened the power the devil, and who gave us His Honest Cross to drive away every adversary. O Most Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord! Help me with the Holy Virgin Mary and with all the saints forever. Amen.
A strong prayer to Boris and Gleb to get rid of a series of failures
Orthodox saints Boris and Gleb accepted martyrdom, fulfilling the commandments of Christ. Along with other passion-bearers, they protect believers from adversity and help strengthen faith in people’s hearts. You just need to turn to them with a request to change the negative course of events, and soon you will notice that favorable changes begin to occur. Prayer to Boris and Gleb saves even believers who find themselves in a hopeless situation.
Oh, sacred duo, beautiful brethren, good passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, who from their youth served Christ with faith, purity and love, and adorned themselves with their blood like scarlet, and now reigns with Christ! Do not forget us who exist on earth, but as warm intercessors, by your strong intercession before Christ God, preserve the young in holy faith and purity, unharmed from every excuse of unbelief and impurity, protect us all from all sorrow, bitterness and vain death, tame all enmity and malice, raised up by the action of the devil from neighbors and strangers. We pray to you, Christ-loving passion-bearers, ask the Great-Gift Master for forgiveness of our sins, unanimity and health, deliverance from the invasion of foreigners, internecine warfare, plagues and famine. Provide (this city) with your intercession to all who honor your holy memory, forever and ever. Amen.
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Help with mental pain at the ROSA clinic
The ROSA Clinic is a specialized center with several departments in Moscow, providing assistance with “mental pain.” We provide both psychological assistance (conversations, trainings, group and individual psychotherapeutic sessions), as well as medication, physiotherapeutic treatment and rehabilitation.
Why you should contact our clinic:
- An established team of psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists and psychotherapists;
- Licensed and certified to provide psychiatric, psychotherapeutic and psychological assistance both in an inpatient setting (in a clinic) and at home;
- Works around the clock;
- We provide assistance upon first request;
- If necessary, a certificate of incapacity for work is issued for the period of treatment.
- Psychological assistance to loved ones, consultations with relatives.
How to live when everything is bad
On the day of the glorification of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow,” Metropolitan Mitrofan of Gorlovka and Slavic, co-served by the clergy of the diocese, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the St. Nicholas Church of Konstantinovka. At the end of the liturgy, the bishop addressed those gathered with an archpastoral word.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
Your Reverences, all-honorable fathers, dear brothers and sisters, I congratulate you on the holiday in honor of the Mother of God and Her image “Joy of All Who Sorrow”! She very often comes to our aid when we can no longer expect help from anyone else or rely on anyone else.
An icon with this name was painted and was located in Moscow, in the church on Ordynka, and became miraculous after the sister of Patriarch Joachim was healed after praying in front of it.
Sorrows and illnesses are what accompanies the life of every person, both believer and non-believer. Some people say: you need to pray, believe in God, read akathists, go to services, take communion - and then there will be no sorrows. It is not true. We know both from the example of our own lives and from history that sorrows also happen in the lives of Christians. Moreover, when we open the Gospel, we suddenly see that the Savior warns the disciples: “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).
How can this be correlated with the fact that many people, crossing the church threshold, think that now I’ll start doing something like this, and then all the sorrows will go away from my life? By following Christ, a person acquires even more of these sorrows in life. Most of them are the result of our own mistakes and sins: pride, selfishness, greed, stupidity, cowardice, meanness - but they also happen for other reasons.
The Lord Jesus Christ grieved on the Cross. He grieved not only from the physical pain that the crucifixion caused Him. He grieved from the betrayal that he experienced from his disciples, and from the fact that he was abandoned by His Heavenly Father. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He prayed on the Cross, because it was hard for Him.
If we explain sorrow only by human sins, then how can we explain why righteous Job, who had not sinned in anything before God, grieved? How then to answer the question why the Mother of God grieved, Who was a pure Virgin, had no sins, but whose heart was pierced by a weapon? Sorrow is one of the manifestations of the imperfection of our life after sin has entered into it.
The worst thing that can happen is when grief leads a person to despondency and despair. A person is as if crushed by a heavy stone from the inside and does not see the light of God, everything around him is seen in black tones, and there is no light.
When some kind of misfortune happens to us or it’s hard for us, we look for a person who can share this sorrow with us. For some, these are parents, spouse, brother or sister, children, friends or acquaintances. We say: “This happened to me, it’s so hard for me, I feel so bad.” When a person listens to us, if he still sympathizes with us and gives good advice, grief does not disappear, but it becomes easier for us. Thank God if there is such a person or several in our lives.
Christians also gained another experience. They learned that when you share your grief with the Mother of God, when you stand in front of Her image, your grief seems to go away, ceases to exist. Light, hope and joy appear in the soul and heart. In gratitude for the fact that by praying to the Mother of God, instead of sorrow, people find joy, hope, an image, and they called it “Joy of All Who Sorrow.”
There are times when there is no one around or people cannot help us. It happens that we tell a story, but they don’t understand us, they don’t hear us, they answer something completely different from what really hurts us, and we don’t want to tell it a second time. We then pray to God. We pray to the Mother of God, because She will certainly hear and understand us. In the way that the Lord and the Mother of God can console, no closest friend can console. Anyone who has this experience, who has tried it himself, understands this and has no doubts.
I don’t have an answer to the question of what needs to be done so that there are no sorrows in life, no one betrays, deceives, or acts unfairly, so as not to get sick with any disease. Sorrows are sure to occur, the Lord sends them along our path in life at a certain time, but it is always easier for a Christian. He has “Joy to all who mourn.” He has a foundation on which he can rely: the opportunity to pray and hear the answer to his prayer, to strengthen his soul and heart at a time when grief seems especially strong. This is our great advantage. It is harder for us to fall into despair.
It happens that we pray and nothing changes, and it seems to us that no one hears us, but this is also not true. At that moment when grief becomes especially strong, the Lord becomes especially close to the human heart. This has been noticed by different people in different circumstances. The deeper the sorrow, the closer God is.
We cannot avoid the sorrows that happen to us, but we must learn to treat them correctly, in a Christian way. We must understand that in grief there is no need to grumble, blame circumstances, people, and, especially, God.
Sometimes things don't go our way. Who is guilty? “The Lord allowed it to happen.” This is our pride. For some reason, it seems to us that God owes us all the time. He must solve all our issues, do as we want. Once they wanted it this way, that means it should be this way, another time it should be different. Some people ask for rain, others don’t need rain, but God is to blame for both. You should never grumble at God.
You should never blame people for your sorrows. Even for those who cause evil, you need to pray to God and wish them well. You should never try to make other people suffer because of you - this is not Christian. It is possible to share grief, but we must remember that it affects those around us, and control ourselves.
We need to pray to God, remember some of our shortcomings, which, perhaps, this grief helps us correct. A Christian attitude towards grief can make it not a tool that kills joy and the desire to live, kills a person, but, although bitter, it is a useful and necessary medicine, from which a person changes, becomes different. We know that this also happens: a person who has suffered grief very often has a completely different attitude towards his life and what happens in it.
If we learn to treat sorrows in a Christian way, accept them with gratitude to God, draw some conclusion for ourselves and help other people, they will not kill us. They will help us grow spiritually and become better people. God grant that we learn to treat them this way. Then they can bring us spiritual benefit.
We know who to turn to in times of grief. Whoever helps us, sends a ray of light into our heart and fills it with joy, we understand. We thank the Mother of God for the fact that She is next to us, that we can pray to Her even in sorrow, which She transforms into joy. We ask that She does not leave us today and all the next days of our life that the Lord gives us.
Happy holiday to you all! May the protection of the Mother of God and the blessing from Her image be with you all!
Prayer helps you not give up
Sometimes life throws up such surprises that a person, even a strong one, has a very hard time. He struggles like a fish against ice, but he can’t cope with the situation. And then one gives up, and despair fills the soul. In the face of such sad events, one should resort to prayer.
Prayer for quick help will ensure that a person, having received support from the Lord, will not give up, but will continue to fight and cope with problems. The prayer in question is not intended to be said at any time. It has great power and is needed in emergency situations. And you cannot abuse it.
