Human Health and the Mind-Body
In some respects, the human mind and body are separate entities, particularly in connection with the types of ailments to which each is vulnerable and the diagnoses and treatment of those ailments. Generally, medical issues affecting the body manifest themselves in symptoms that are observable or otherwise detectable through the five senses. By contrast, ailments affecting the human mind often have no externally identifiable symptoms; they must be diagnosed through some form of psychological therapy that emphasizes communication between the patient and the healthcare professional.
However, contemporary medicine now understands that there is also a definite connection between the mind and the physical body through which each affects and is affected by the other in many ways. Mental pathologies and other types of conditions and experiences that primarily affect the mind, such as emotional (and many other types of) stress, can also result in or make existing physical symptoms much worse. Other types of ailments originating in the mind can be the principal cause of physical symptoms of the body. The opposite is equally true: physical conditions, such as chronic pain (among others) can also affect the state and health of the mind, resulting in anxiety, depression, and other psychological conditions.
Rudy From Rudy (1993): Character
Back in the mid-1970s when Daniel 'Rudy' Ruettiger was in college, Notre Dame University was the unquestioned powerhouse of college football. But if Notre Dame was a Goliath, Rudy was a 'David,' a small, unremarkable…