Longing is not a physical illness. Its cause is a relentless yearning, an anxious restlessness, and a prolonged, hopeless passion. In medical terms, longing is a form of stress.
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Anxiety and despair can become a persistent obsession, gradually leading to mental exhaustion (Image: quitcentral) |
Modern medicine divides stress into three stages. Each stage has different developments, and early treatment can prevent serious consequences or harmful psychological trauma. For conditions similar to longing:
Alarm Stage: This stage involves anxiety, feelings of insecurity, nervousness, rapid heartbeat, increased breathing rate, and elevated blood pressure, causing changes in mental state and lifestyle.
Resistance Stage: Anxiety and despair become a constant obsession, gradually leading to both mental and physical exhaustion; this stage is commonly referred to as longing.
Stress Stage: This stage equates to the condition of longing. Various psychiatric disorders, bodily disturbances, and behaviors may appear either acutely or temporarily, ranging from mild to prolonged, leading to exhaustion and potentially resulting in death due to opportunistic illnesses.
Modern medicine suggests that stress is any factor that threatens health or adversely affects bodily functions, such as injury, illness, or anxiety. Continuous stress triggers biological reactions to ensure survival by releasing substances known as stress hormones, particularly an increase in prolactin. Over time, stress hormones can significantly disrupt numerous physiological functions, leading to severe psychological decline, disrupting the immune system, and affecting both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Longing behaves similarly.
The condition of longing is typically illustrated in the story of Phan Tran, which is based on a legend from China during the Song Dynasty. The story goes as follows: Phan Gong and Tran Gong are classmates and become officials together. Both wives become pregnant; Phan gives birth to a son named Phan Sinh, and Tran gives birth to a daughter named Kieu Lien. They promise to marry their children to each other. As the children grow up, both men decide to retire, each taking a different path.
Phan Sinh grows up, excels in the local exams but fails the national exam, deciding to stay away from home to study for the next opportunity. Meanwhile, Kieu Lien loses her father, and due to war at home, she gets separated from her mother. She seeks refuge in a temple in Jinling, adopting the monastic name Diao Thuong. While at the temple, she misses her mother and thinks of her fiancé, often feeling despondent, but with the advice of the abbess, she gradually finds solace.
Phan Sinh studies in the capital and remembers that a relative of his is a nun in Jinling, so he decides to visit. He sees Diao Thuong, described as “a youthful beauty”, and falls in love, enlisting the help of the nun Hương Công to act as a matchmaker. Diao Thuong rejects him, leading him to fall ill with longing. Phan Sinh becomes gravely ill, and when Diao Thuong, out of respect for the abbess, comes to visit him, he suddenly feels much better. That night, he knocks on Kieu Lien’s door to thank her; worried about his health, she lets him in. After exchanging a few words, they recognize each other but keep their feelings hidden due to the temple’s decorum. Later, Phan Sinh passes the imperial examination, and the two eventually become husband and wife.
