Emphysema

Emphysema makes breathing labour, and breath is read here as our yes to life - our commitment to be here and take life in. The pattern is a fear of life, or a wish that someone else would carry one's life, expressed in shallow breathing that shields one from dealing with reality; the lungs that should expand to share in and enter life instead contract toward isolation and withdrawal. Underneath are anxiety, a sense of being unworthy in some area, and a fading interest in life itself. The short explanation's "excessive mental and/or emotional stress" is that constricted, life-avoiding breath. Relief is described as letting oneself breathe life in fully again, asserting one's worth, and re-engaging rather than withdrawing.

(Note: this is a metaphysical interpretation; emphysema is a serious respiratory condition requiring medical care.)

Example from the findings: laboured breath is read as a reluctance to take life in - lungs contracting toward withdrawal rather than expanding into life.