Health and Wellness have long been topics of concern almost since the beginning of history. From the earliest of times down to our day mankind has battled illness and looked for cures for physical ailments.  Even when medical professionals encountered new illnesses and were stumped, and possibly overwhelmed with people who had recognizable illnesses, those without medical training but a vested interest due to the condition that affected themselves or their family on a personal level took it upon themselves to continue searching for answers. There are a number of medical breakthroughs that benefit us today because of the determination of regular men and women who searched for answers.

In the earliest of history, mental and emotional illnesses were also of concern but only began to be studied toward the end of the Medieval part of mankind’s history, gaining momentum during The Scientific Revolution in the Middle Ages. Since then, the field of psychology continues in its search to understand our behavior patterns.

Though closely related, the study of emotional wellness is much more recent. Although we easily accept the concept of our physical body having an immune system and in more recent years a psychological immune system, the concept of an emotional immune system may be a new idea. 

At this moment, I want to acknowledge that I am not a medical or behavioral professional. I have no credentials.  I am an ordinary, moderately educated person like most others. I have lived my life and experienced ups and downs just like anyone else. As a person, my inclination to introspectively step back to reflect on my choices and observe others and examine the results would fall under the categories of being an Empathic and/or a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), a term coined by Dr. Elaine Aron.

I first began using the expression “emotional immune system” in 2025 and have no knowledge of anyone using the expression before then. If anyone has used that expression, I have not been successful in finding proof of it. However, I have learned that this idea of an emotional immune system is closely related to the concept of a "psychological immune system” which began to be popularized in the late 1990s by psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Timothy Wilson.

There’s a famous expression that “necessity is the mother of invention.”  I’m of the opinion that principle also applies to knowledge and understanding to some extent.  We tend to learn things when we need to know them, invent what we need based on the tools we have around us and seek to understand when we encounter something unusual.  There is also an element of motivation.  Mr. Tony Robbins drove home the idea of the two strong motivators of pain versus pleasure in his Personal Power training programs he sold during the 1990’s. 

Just as we may take good health for granted, we also may take the good times in our life for granted. Most people do not spend great amounts of time reflecting on the choices that led to their life going smoothly. Unless it’s a huge event like a wedding, graduation, or some goal we fought hard to attain, we may not reflect on the reasons for our happiness at all.

Great unhappiness, whether self-inflicted by poor choices or circumstances beyond our control, is like being on an open highway, missing your exit and trying to navigate to an acceptable alternative exit. That alternative may take you much further out of your way and cost you more than you had counted on just to regain the ground you lost in trying to reach your planned destination. 

During that unexpected detour, we have a lot of time to think. Initially, we may treat ourselves like an emotional punching bag for making a mistake. Certainly, we reach a point where we try to retrace our steps to understand where we went wrong. In these moments of introspection, come the thoughts that can further weaken our emotional immune system or that we can use to inoculate ourselves, strengthening our emotional immune system. We can choose to shake off the blame and self-doubt and extract the lesson like a miner washes mud away from a piece of gold. It is the very essence of what it means to be resilient.

There’s a line in a song written and performed by Billy Joel that states “You’re only human. You’re supposed to make mistakes.” Although he is one of my most favorite music artists and I enjoy the song, I don’t agree with that line.  As humans, we are prone to make errors and we can certainly take lessons from them, but being naturally inclined toward something doesn’t mean we have to give in. Fighting a wrong decision isn’t easy. Like a car out of alignment, we naturally pull in the wrong directions, but we can compensate and choose to stay in our lane. We don’t have to veer off the road and crash into a tree and deal with all the damage.

However, despite our best efforts to protect our emotional immune system, sometimes those circumstances beyond our control still affect us. When this happens we have to be on our guard. Just as a weakened physical immune system makes us more susceptible to illness, so too does an emotionally weakened immune system make us more susceptible to trouble caused by poor decisions. It can turn into a vicious cycle as the weakened system hampers our rational thinking and that further weakens the system to a point where we may need outside intervention to stabilize and regain our ground.

How do we protect our emotional immune system? Similar to the way we protect our physical health. Just as the quality of food and drink we take in affects our physical health, so the quality of our mental and emotional consumption can help to build up or take away from our emotional immunity.  Healthy interaction with friends and family in person instead of people unknown to us over the internet is integral.  We have to have a support system. People we can trust who we can safely share our thoughts and feelings with. 

Although we can’t control everyone we have contact with in our lives, we can choose who we are close to and we can take steps to counter the negatives that we cannot avoid. Maybe it’s as simple as taking a walk after a day of talking with difficult people. Maybe it’s about going home, typing up all your frustrations and then pressing the delete button. Maybe it’s about putting your feelings into a form of art that takes something ugly and turns it into something beautiful. Less time spent completely alone, more time doing activities that engage your mind and less time watching a screen where others live their lives while you watch.  Definitely, it’s about having people you can trust and safely share your true thoughts and feelings.