the.com/continence

means The ability to control one's bladder and bowels — or, in the older moral sense, to hold one's desires and appetites in check.

from From Latin continentia, 'a holding together, self-restraint,' from continere — 'con-' (together) plus 'tenere' (to hold). The same root that gives us 'contain' and 'retain': continence is literally the body or will holding itself together, which is exactly why its absence feels like something coming apart.