Serious Discussion-Stress and Psych Disorders — Page 23

I was just talking about the importance of understanding world religions with someone yesterday...

It stemmed from a conversation about the history of the Anglican/Episcopal church and the roots of it's break from Catholicism and the issue of authority.

So, I think the subject of dialogue between religions is fascinating.

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Ok, I can start out with a little bit.

I will start with a bit of my thought on a "universal scale" refering to our society at large.

I think that it has to do, at least in part, with the lack of discernable concrete goals in the modern world. Life was "harder" for most people in centuries past, but they were not "stressed" in the same way. They had a measurable goal, that could be celebrated, which was actually surviving the day, or keeping their family alive.

Today for most of us, although sadly no all, that is no longer a consideration. So we have an ever increasing series of goals, that never have a true place to stop and overlook the past accomplishments. For some it builds to such a frenzy that we lose track of any acomplishments.

As each of the newer and more advanced ways to communicate arrises, there is buildup of both supposed "down time" and expectations. So we are constantly involved in some form of information gathering, and always expected to continue on to the next.

Even the methods to destress are filled with the dread of expectation of more, better, and faster. We are left, lost, alone and afraid. Or violent and reactionary. Either way we are on edge and near an explosion, or implosion.

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I agree. The parameters of what we think we know about our lives are subject to change at a moment's notice.

I remember being terrified, as a child, when the air raid sirens were tested. (This was during the era of Nikita "we will bury you and your children" Kruschev...) As an adult, in the space of a couple of months, I had to adjust my psyche to incorporate the very real, no longer abstract, threats of airplanes being flown into buildings in my "backyard" and the probability of attacks with hideous biological agents. And the natural disasters befalling the world...tsunamis, earthquakes...seem so much larger than they used to. Now, I'm not sure if they, for the most part, ARE really bigger, or if it just seems that way due to the omnipresent media coverage. One also has to factor in that as population density increases in any given place, disasters will affect more people.

I am a positive person by nature. I have never doubted my ability to find the glass half full, or the silver lining in a bad situation, but it is much more difficult than it used to be. I've found myself having to struggle not to be taken over by clinical depression more than once.

My mom grew up with the realistic expectation that life would "better" for me than it was for her. I want to believe the same for my children, but sometimes I worry whether there will be a functional world left for them to live in...

And there you have *some* of the roots of my stress...

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I've witnessed panic attacks right on the street.

Oh, I agree. They're terrifying, when undergoing one.

And yet, I wonder how much can get slipped by using one as an excuse. I realize that stresses are individual matters as well.

I'm just reminded of the story of that one of our posters, brdlwyr has brought up before, where his admin assistant takes time off from stress induced by seeing a mouse in her house.

Six weeks?

I evaluate disability claims for Social Security so I see all sorts of stuff every day.

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"I think if you have such control over it to communicate and ask for time off for "pressure" it is not the same."

I'm not sure I get what you're saying. It's not the same as what?

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OH, I see, thanks. No, I was talking about a woman who took time off each year for her blood pressure issues.

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LOL, yeah, I can relate. But this woman was a joke already. She took the exact same six weeks off in the winter, and the same six weeks in the spring each year. All the other teachers would try to guess where her time shares were located!

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Wow, I have experienced the exact same thing-only with anxiety. I could get through the most trying and traumatic event with flying colors, and then a few days later, I'd get a delayed reaction. the only way I could figure it out is that the body's coping mechanism sets in to help us get through the stressful event, and it isn't until later on, when we don't need that coping mechanism, that we first experience the effects.

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The interplay between stress and depression is also really interesting. Last Spring, I knew I was riddled with anxiety, to the point of immobility. So I got medication for it. It was only then that it became apparent that I was also in a severe depression. Which caused me many additional problems, not the least of which being my refusal to take the medicine anymore. Of course now my intense fear of being attacked makes me not go back to the doctor. Although I know none of it is logical, the fear is real and paralizing.
It is incredibly painful to think about in most cases.

Although alternatives such as mediation, and relaxation therapy have been working for me lately.

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