Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, was a guest on Samsun Provincial Mufti's Office's Facebook-Youtube live broadcast. Tarhan made important evaluations regarding managing negative emotions under the title 'The Power to Cope with Negative Emotions,' and stated that our brain needs to 'Stop, think, and act' to produce positive emotions.
“The brain automatically produces negative emotions on its own, but we need to make a special effort to think positively.”
Tarhan stated that the field of psychiatry is just beginning to understand the importance of distinguishing between positive and negative emotions, saying, “Neuroscience studies were being conducted on this, particularly in the brain. In neuroscience studies, there are amygdala and hypothalamus regions in the brain. It was understood that these regions are related to negative emotions, but the prefrontal cortex in the front part of the brain is related to positive emotions. The brain automatically produces negative emotions on its own, but for our brain to produce positive emotions, it needs to 'stop, think, and act.' There is an interesting mechanism where, when humans live, facing negativity and a sense of threat, they primarily have an internal, impulsive tendency to think negatively. As individuals, we have such a characteristic that we need to make a special effort to think positive emotions.”
“It is important for a person to have a mental jury in their mind”
Emphasizing that our brain has spiritual software, Tarhan stated, “This is similar to, for example… God created humans with a tendency to be infinitely good and infinitely evil. He gave us a 'nafs' (ego/self) related to infinite evil. Our nafs activates the amygdala and hypothalamus regions. Telling us, 'You are in danger, you are not safe.' Do you know when this first starts? A child is in a very safe environment in the mother's womb, but as soon as they are born, cold air enters their lungs, and the first feeling they experience is fear. When they feel fear, they seek safety, they seek refuge for themselves. They immediately take refuge with the mother. If the mother's compassion is good, and there is a warm, stable, and continuous relationship, the child has a connected life with the mother. For example, if you put all 1-year-old children in a room, when one cries, they all start to cry. This is because their mirror neurons have not developed yet; they perceive someone else's pain as their own. In what we call the theory of mind, a person begins to learn by thinking and making assumptions. During this period, it is important for a person to have an inner guardian in their conscience and a mental jury in their mind. If a person forms these juries, they can quickly reason when an event occurs.”
“If we succeed in linking happiness to an internal cause, we succeed in being happy wherever we are”
Tarhan stated that individuals who have a sense of accountability to God possess an inner peace provided by spirituality and strong faith, saying, “Even under the worst conditions, for example, if a person is in prison, they find a way to be happy. This is referred to as authentic happiness in positive psychology, but there are some who cannot be happy even if they are in a palace. If we succeed in linking happiness to an internal cause, we succeed in being happy wherever we are. That is why we need to learn the science of happiness.”