Guilt Causes Physical, Psychological, and Emotional Damage

As a child, your parents always told you that old moral lesson, “What goes around comes around.” Some may call it good luck or bad luck, but I refer to it as karma. When one is faced with a moral choice, he or she has to differ right from wrong. People are hesitant about making the wrong decision because the outcome you may endure is the negative feeling of guilt.

There are many symptoms that arise from guilt including depression, insomnia, and stress. Living a guilt free life is crucial to maintaining a healthy life-style and clean conscience. Guilt is an on-going issue and can be fixed. Wrong doing has more negative effects than just “What goes around comes around.” Whether you believe it or not, guilt can build up causing physical, psychological, and emotional damage to your body.

Guilt by definition is “the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law.“(dictionary.com) To me, guilt is the feeling one gets when he or she knows they are in the wrong or went against one's personal morals. According to Phil Barker, “We feel guilty when we feel responsible for an action that we regret. There are several types of guilt”(Phil Barker “Guilt and Shame”). Guilt is a constant physical, mental, and emotional fight with oneself. The challenge to surpass it is more difficult than one would think, therefore, avoiding guilt is in one's best interest. That is why I support Ruth Whippman’s conclusion that guilt“…is so powerful, we do almost anything to avoid it” (Ruth Whippman “Guilt Trip”). Ruth also states, “Guilt is the driver of our internal system of checks and balances, the stubborn little inner voice that stops us from eating nineteen Twinkies in a row…” When one ch...

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...e and doesn’t make the same bad choice again, one can live a guilt free life.

Works Cited

Harper, Douglas. "guilt." Online Etymology Dictionary. Historian. 26 Apr. 2014. .

Barker, Phil. "Guilt and Shame." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: July 2003

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Whippman, Ruth. “Guilt Trip.” Opinionator Guilt Trip Comments New York Times Company 11 Feb. 2013.

Me, Merely. "Depression Symptoms Series: Guilt and Shame." - Symptoms. N.p., 22 Nov. 2010. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor, 1997. Print.