Doctor says 80% of patients suffering from autoimmune disorders share four characteristics: ‘They feel responsible for others…’

Living with autoimmune diseases can be exhausting. They are incurable, as per Cleveland Clinic, and last as long as you live. According to the US Centers For Disease Control & Prevention, there’s a high prevalence of these diseases occurring in women. 6.7 million, or 78.8%, of people with autoimmune illnesses are women, according to conservative estimates. In a chat with American author Mel Robbins, Canadian physician Gabor Maté explained why 80 per cent of autoimmune diseases occur to women. The doctor explained why most of the patients of these diseases turned out to be women and the characteristics they had in common.

Extremely Self-Sacrificing

Dr Mate revealed these people often tended to ones who put other people’s emotional needs before their own.

Wedded To Duty

Most of these people were second to none when it came to fulfilling their duty, taking pride in their ability to fulfil responsibilities and obligations towards people they loved. They also often ignored their own needs.

Excessively Nice

The doctor also pointed out that these people tended to be very nice and too accommodating towards others. In their tendency to satisfy everyone, they ignore their own needs and repress their anger and frustrations.

They Feel Responsible For Others

These people get emotionally invested in others and often feel they are responsible for their well-being and feelings.

“Those people more often than not tend to be women, as women in this culture are emotionally programmed to cater to other people’s emotional needs,” explained the doctor.

Gabor Maté is a writer and doctor from Canada. He specialises on childhood development and trauma, including long-term impacts on physical and mental health, including autoimmune disorders, cancer, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and addiction. He has worked in family practices.

In order to treat underlying emotional distress as a component of rehabilitation, Maté's approach to addiction highlights the part trauma plays in the emergence of substance use disorders.

Women do tend to be more likely to fulfil responsibilities towards people they love – especially their children and family – not just out of a sense of obligation but from a sense of emotional attachment. Quietly absorbing these burdens all of their lives, women often tend to become victims of emotional hazards and seldom take care of their health. This makes them vulnerable to many diseases.