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Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health

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Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health

Physical health is a term that refers to the well-being of an individual’s physical body and

how well it is operating. There are many body parts in a human body, from head to toe, and they

all operate in harmony when a person is healthy. Whenever there is a medical issue with the

body, it results in the body not functioning as it should, and the patient is likely to feel pain or

any other unusual feelings. Mental health is defined as a person’s condition concerning their

psychological and emotional well-being (Lee, Bangen, Avanzino, Hou, Ramsey, Eglit & Jeste,

2020). The most common items affected by mental help are the thinking ability, the mood of a

person, and their behavior when doing various activities. When a person is mentally healthy,

they are likely to have a very good balance of the three factors, and they are likely to have

negative aspects when they are unhealthy.

Emotional health is a measure of how people think and feel about various factors that

impact their lives. It measures the sense of well-being that people can develop and assesses how

we acknowledge our emotions and other people’s emotions. While it does not mean being happy

all the time, it does include checking the well-being that people have when dealing with various

circumstances they face in their lives, be it positive or negative. Lastly, spiritual health is a

measure of how well a person can live purposefully and meet their capacities when dealing with

human life. Spiritual health also integrates into some ways components of physical, mental, and

emotional health. Therefore, it is considered a factor that directly shows an individual’s health on

a broader level. The four types of health are often intertwined, and a healthy person has to

balance their health across all the four types of health. Medical treatment and science also cater

to all four and are designed to help balance the various types of development when a person is in

distress.
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Influence of Physical Illness on the Other Health Domains

When a person is physically unhealthy, it is common to find that other well-being

domains are severely affected. There is a considerable impact that physical health has on the

mental health of a person. Many also argue that these two go together as when a person is

physically unwell, it is also likely that they will be mentally unwell. When a person is physically

unwell and unable to accomplish many of the things that they had been doing, it is common that

they become depressed (Chekroud, Gueorguieva, Zheutlin, Paulus, Krumholz, Krystal &

Chekroud, 2018). Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses characterized by a lack

of interest in different things and a feeling of sadness that persists for a long period. It is also

common that physical illness can lead to an anxiety disorder that directly leads to reduced

effectiveness and the ability to stop worrying about various things. A person is often restless,

which occurs when they cannot deal with long-term problems that may affect individuals in

various ways.

When a person is physically ill, their spiritual health could improve or could decline. In

the case of s some people, physical illness leads to a period of meditation and prayer. These two

often help increase a person’s spiritual health, and even though it does not directly help bring

healing, it can lead to an increase in wellness. On the other hand, there are people whose spiritual

health deteriorates when faced with physical illnesses. When people cannot do things supporting

their wellness, such as visiting their worship place, it is common to find that an individual’s

abilities reduce quickly. Spiritual wellness can lead to further problems for a person who is

already physically ill and directly impacts their ability to recover even from the physical illness

they were facing. Spiritual wellness can be impacted differently by physical illness depending on

the individual’s personality that is affected.

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It is also common that people that are affected by physical illnesses are impacted by

emotional stress. Most physically ill people are often unable to earn an income, which makes

them have stress caused by economic factors. People often have many responsibilities when

working, and a physical illness can make them unable to meet these responsibilities. Other social

factors such as lack of family support when a person is ill can also lead to emotional stress,

making people unhealthy emotionally. Unless the secondary factors caused by a physical illness

are solved, it is almost impossible to reduce the mental stress generated by physical illnesses

effectively. The development of a good healthcare plan calls for considering all these castors and

developing a healthcare plan that caters to the various needs that a patient may have.

Influence of the Other Health Domain on Physical Health

The interconnection between other health domains and physical health is something that

affects a person in many ways. In mental health, when a person is mentally healthy, they are also

likely to be considered healthy in their physical well-being. The development of mental issues

such as depression can lead to an individual being unable to eat as they should, leading to a

situation where they may become physically ill (Sunaryo, Nirwanto & Manan, 2017). The

decision-making process may be greatly impacted, which can directly lead to them being unable

to make decisions in their best interest. It is also common that when a person has mental

illnesses such as bipolar disorder, they are likely to do activities that could directly lead to them

being physically harmed and could lead to physical illness. When a person becomes mentally ill

while they have any other physical illness, it is expected that their condition could worsen. The

healing process for their physical illness is likely to slow down considerably.

Spiritual illness can also impact the physical well-being of a person in several ways.

When a person is spiritually unwell, it is most likely that the illness will also impact their
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physical well-being. It is common to find that spiritual health development impacts a person’s

ability to be at peace with themselves (Heidari, Borujeni, Abyaneh & Rezaei, 2019). When a

person is spiritually unwell, it is common to find that they may be stressed or suffer from

tension. The impact of this is that it results in the person having the potential to develop high

blood pressure, which can cause even further harm. Bodily harm such as broken limbs is also

likely to occur through events such as accidents caused by the lack of effective fulfillment for a

patient on the spiritual level.

Lastly, when a person is emotionally unwell, the effects are likely to extend to their

physical health. One of the common emotional illnesses is that of stress. It is common to find

that people are stressed over various factors that may be affecting their life. It could come from

both the social and even economic factors that affect an individual’s actions. When a person

cannot effectively deal with stress, it is common to find that it leads to other physical illnesses

such as high blood pressure and diabetes in the long term. These two are physical illnesses that

impact a person’s body’s ability to function normally and often require a person to have

medication to live much longer. Such considerations also impact a person for a long time

because the conditions cannot be fully treated but are rather managed through medication and

eating a healthy diet. In general, all three health domains directly impact a person’s physical

health when not managed effectively. It is necessary to improve the handling that we have for

these domains as a preventative measure of physical illnesses.

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Impact on Holistic Healthcare and Important Takeaways

Holistic healthcare is an approach to healthcare that looks at a person as a whole and not

just the physical or mental aspect of a person’s health. This approach allows medical

professionals to assess the physical, emotional, social, and even spiritual well-being (Jaberi,

Momennasab, Yektatalab, Ebadi & Cheraghi, 2019). This approach’s development allows the

medical practitioners to assess how various domains of a person are affected by their condition

and check the interconnection they are facing. This consideration is important, especially when

checking the effectiveness of treatment. It also gives the healthcare practitioners a different

perspective that considers the factors that could make physical treatment fail or succeed. This

treatment method is more effective, and it also helps reduce the chances of a patient visiting the

facility again while facing the same problem.

The most important takeaway in this paper is the understanding that there are many

healthcare domains for each person. Each of the domains plays a critical role in guaranteeing the

overall well-being of a person. The development of treatment prescriptions must always consider

the person’s health as a whole and not just the mental or physical health. To have holistic care, it

is also necessary to appreciate other people’s cultures to understand their actions in seeking

treatment for various conditions. Notably, the development of cultural awareness among

healthcare practitioners can directly increase an individual’s ability to help deliver holistic care

to all patients irrespective of their background. More training and education need to be given to

medical practitioners to guarantee the holistic approach is effectively used at all times.
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References

Chekroud, S. R., Gueorguieva, R., Zheutlin, A. B., Paulus, M., Krumholz, H. M., Krystal, J. H.,

& Chekroud, A. M. (2018). Association between physical exercise and mental health in

1· 2 million individuals in the USA between 2011 and 2015: a cross-sectional study. The

Lancet Psychiatry, 5(9), 739-746.

Heidari, M., Borujeni, M. G., Abyaneh, S. K., & Rezaei, P. (2019). The effect of spiritual care on

perceived stress and mental health among the elderlies living in nursing home. Journal of

religion and health, 58(4), 1328-1339.

Jaberi, A., Momennasab, M., Yektatalab, S., Ebadi, A., & Cheraghi, M. A. (2019). Spiritual

health: A concept analysis. Journal of religion and health, 58(5), 1537-1560.

Lee, E. E., Bangen, K. J., Avanzino, J. A., Hou, B., Ramsey, M., Eglit, G., ... & Jeste, D. V.

(2020). Outcomes of randomized clinical trials of interventions to enhance social,

emotional, and spiritual components of wisdom: a systematic review and meta-

analysis. JAMA psychiatry, 77(9), 925-935.

Sunaryo, H., Nirwanto, N., & Manan, A. (2017). The effect of emotional and spiritual

intelligence on nurses‟ burnout and caring behavior. International Journal of Academic

Research in Bussines and Social Sciences, 7(12), 1211-27.