About half a year into working on my mental health my physical health started to improve, too. Realizing that mind and body are not separate entities, my motivation really accelerated. I started making enthusiastic predictions to my friends „Half a year and I’ll be good as new“, „Maybe three more month“, „In a year’s time I’ll have worked through this“ However, I have uncovered more and more trauma and when one pain was alleviated there was more underneath. Despite noticing that my healing expectations are unrealistically optimistic, I still do it. „Just this next thing and I’ll be grand.“ In more descriptive terms, I am too positive and can’t project myself realistically into the future.
Optimism benefits well-being
Unrealistic optimism it is a robust phenomenon, that comes up in every generation everywhere in the world. People believe for example that they are immune to disease. Or that they have better chances than other of a great career (1). Even when statistic evidence would contradict them. Parents are unrealistically optimistic about their children’s future, too.
From an evolutionary point of view this makes sense. Not taking precautions but reaping the benefits when thing do go right, saves energy (2). Moreover, being optimistic is comforting and reduces anxiety (1).
Optimism that keeps you stuck
Unrealistic optimism can also be harmful. Some people don’t go to recommended medical checkups. Thus, being too optimistic leads to people developing cancer that goes undetected (3). Addicts that smoke or drink are also at high risk but often underestimate the medical implications their behavior has (4). And therefore, see no reason to change.
My addictive behavior was codependency. Trying to control everything and everyone around me was detrimental to my physical health. But I was proud actually, to tell people that they don’t need to worry about me regardless. “It’s fine I just don’t move like this anymore and it’ll be okay.” It kept me stuck.
Physiology behind unrealistic optimism
Scientific evidence points towards involvement of the right hemisphere of the brain. Healthy people were asked questions about their future health prospects. Meanwhile scientists activated their right and left brain hemisphere by channeling cold water into their ears. Yikes. The results showed that when water was channeled into the left ear which activates the right brain hemisphere, participants became more realistic about their future prospects (5). Interestingly the right brain hemisphere is also associated with keeping the emotional equilibrium (6).
There is still lots left to uncover about the nature of optimism. Epigenetics, for one seem to play a role (7). Therefore, I wonder if abuse survivors have a higher – shall I say risk? – of having unrealistic optimism. Not least because they often end up with addictive behaviors. Further knowledge is important because an optimistic attitude is also predictive of treatment outcome and healthy aging.
So, optimism is neither good nor bad. It kept me stuck. But once I was on my healing journey it shielded me from ever giving up.
(2)The paranoid optimist: An integrative evolutionary model of cognitive biases (2006) M. G. Haselton & D. Nettle
(3) What is the relationship between breast cancer risk and mammography screening? A meta-analytic review (1996) K.D. McCaul, A. D. Branstetter, D. M. Schroeder, R. E. Glasgow
(4) Unrealistic optimism in smokers: Implications for smoking myth endorsement and self-protective motivation (2006) A. J. Dillard, K. D. McCaul, W. M. P. Klein
(5) Vestibular stimulation reduces unrealistic optimism (2010) C. Tamagni, A. Palla, P. Krummenacher, D. Vitacco, E. Huberle, D. Straumann, S. C. A. Hegemann, R. McKay, P. Brugger
(6) Extending the Functional Cerebral Systems Theory of Emotion to the Vestibular Modality: A Systematic and Integrative Approach (2009) J. E. Carmona, A. K. Holland, D. W. Harrison
(7) Epigenome-wide analysis of DNA methylation and optimism in women and men (2022) C. Wang, D. L. DeMeo, E. S. Kim, A. Cardenas, L. O. Lee, A. Spiro III, L. Hou, Steve Horvath, J. D. Stewart, J. E. Manson, K. C. Fong, E.A. Whitsel, A. A. Baccarelli, L. D. Kubzansky, Y. Li, F. Grodstein, Joel D. Schwartz
