Stress Illness Symptoms
Sometimes chronic pain and illness, wrestled with over months and years, are finally found to be rooted in stress and tension. For some, just considering that idea can help bring relief.
Here’s Dr. David Clarke’s list of common stress-related symptoms, taken from his book, They Can’t Find Anything Wrong!: 7 Keys to Understanding, Treating, and Healing Stress Illness.
- Pain such as headache, back pain, neck pain, chest pain, muscle or joint pain, and abdominal pain
- Abnormal swallowing, digestion, or bowel function including constipation, diarrhea, and bloating
- Nausea or vomiting
- Discomfort in the bladder or during urination.
- Respiratory symptom, including difficulty breathing and cough
- Voice changes
- Heart palpitations
- Pelvic and vaginal irritation, premensrual or menstrual pain
- Fatigue
- Abnormal sleeping or eating
- Symptoms related to nerve function such as blurred vision, dizziness, ringing in the ears, itching of the skin, sweating, numbness, or tingling
Sound like you? As with any medical problem, the first step is to talk with your doctor.
For more on the topic try Dr. Clarke’s site, stressillness.com or Dr. David Schechter’s MindBodyMedicine.com. On this site, go to Stress-Related Pain and Illness.
T.V. for Toddlers
Too much T.V. for toddlers leads to problems later, says a Canadian study. Maybe no surprise, but still…
[E]ach hour of extra TV exposure in early childhood was associated with a range of issues by the fourth grade…[T]hose with more TV exposure participated less in class and had lower math grades. They suffered about 10 percent more bullying by classmates and were less likely to be physically active on weekends.
L.A. Rehab Blog
What goes on at an L.A. rehab? One way to get a sense of it, read the rehab’s blog.
No such thing? Not so: Here’s one from Beit T’Shuvah.
(If you find others, please let me know.)
Sex, Alcoholism, Dementia, Depression, and Facebook
An especially alluring set of news headlines at PsychCentral today:
- Scientists Closer to Finding Cure for Alcoholism
- Your Dementia Risk Rises if Spouse Has Dementia
- Electromagnetic Stimulation (rTMS) for Depression
- Some Mood Disorders Stay with Us As We Age
- Social Media Doesn’t Help in the Classroom
- Older Men Benefit From Talking About Sex
- Exploring Causes for Postpartum Depression
- Insight on Late-Life Depression
The Moral Life of Babies
Do we start out with a sense of right and wrong or not? A long exploration in the NYT Magazine:
[T]he current work…on baby morality, might seem like a perverse and misguided next step. Why would anyone even entertain the thought of babies as moral beings? From Sigmund Freud to Jean Piaget to Lawrence Kohlberg, psychologists have long argued that we begin life as amoral animals…
The Pill Turns 50
A birthday write-up from the Los Angeles Times:
It was supposed to make every child a wanted child, give women control over their bodies and grant couples worry-free sex…
On Placebos
Olivia Judson looks at the placebo effect. Regarding the testing of an ulcer drug versus a placebo:
Intriguingly, the results varied from country to country, with Brazilians showing no placebo effect and Germans having a strong one. Why? No one knows, but it doesn’t appear to be because of anything inherently German: trials of drugs for hypertension found a weaker placebo effect in Germany than in other countries.
“My Kid Wouldn’t Do That”
A study shows parents tend to have a skewed views of their teen’s behavior.
“Parents…had a very hard time thinking about their own teen children as sexually desiring subjects…At the same time…parents view their teens’ peers as highly sexual, even sexually predatory.”
Parental Estrangement
Tara Parker-Pope looks at a “silent epidemic“–children who refuse all contact with their parents.
“It’s possible for a parent to feel like they were doing something out of love,” he said, “but it didn’t feel like love to that child.” Friends, other family members and therapists can often help a parent cope with the loss of an estranged child. So can patience: reconciliation usually takes many conversations, not just one.
Green Exercise
A study says exercising for just a little bit–but outdoors, in nature–is good for mood and well-being.
Green areas with water added something extra. A blue and green environment seems even better for health…From a health policy perspective, the largest positive effect on self-esteem came from a five-minute dose.