Hi Guys,

Much is written on here about stress but it often appears that people really don't understand stress at all.
In it's simplest definition stress is any adjustment mentally or physically that the body has to make, now think about that for a second, any adjustment you make will create a reaction within the body. A sudden movement, a shadow that doesn't appear right in the dark, it could be some-one lurking there, a fright, any background noise, flashing lights, moving traffic, concentration, a drunk walking past, seeing a person you don't like, reading something you don't like or agree with.

Anything that forces your brain/body to adjust to meet the demand, or new circumstances is stress, even good things (Eustress) such as kissing your wife, or playing with kids/grandkids or your dog. All of these things add to the stress load, eustress creates a happy euphoric feeling and is beneficial for you, helps you deal with the overload of bad stress ( taken from the word dis-tress). It is the accumulation of all of these small adjustments that usually creates the big problem of stress overload, not one or three earth shattering events of large magnitude. After a while your mind/body loses it's resilience and fails to cope.

Often people walk around with residual anger because of this overload and slowly the blood pressure climbs until a diagnosis of essential hypertension is made, no cause found, meaning no organ failure such as kidney disease which is a known cause ,can be found .

Chronic anxiety disorder such as panic attacks over many years, has now been elevated to a medically accepted cause of essential hypertension. I argued with doctors from 1978 onwards that this would be proven one day, and in 2006 it was.

Cheers

stress forces from the outside world impinging on the individual. stress is a normal part of life that can help us learn and grow.conversely, stress can cause us significant problems.more stress makes a person mad.

Hi 'noddysams'
What about self induced stress such as angry thoughts based on misinterpretation of intentions or motives, this can be absolutely self destructive. Often people suffer a simple nervous breakdown and become irrational, confused, aggressive and socially unacceptable, but with treatment such as cognitive behavioural therapy or Dr Claire Weekes' therapy, people return from being "mad" to being a normal person.

Claire Weekes was a lot more than just a medical doctor, before becoming a medical doctor she had the distinction of being the first doctor of science from Sydney University. She was a Biologist that set up a breeding program for endangered animals, and worked in this capacity for 10 years, and then she became a medical doctor. I use her methods all of the time in my Eden clinic "John Bobbin Natural Medicine", as well as Gavin Andrews text on cognitive behavioural therapy.

Cheers

stress can come from any situation or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry and anxious.stress is caused by an existing stress causing stressor.

Stress is a term in psychology and biology which has in more recent decades become a commonplace of popular parlance.It refers to the consequence of the failure of an organism – human or animal – to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined.Stress is a feeling that's created when we react to particular events.It's the body's way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina and heightened alertness.

Hi Cleve,

Stress does not have to be in the form of threat, it can, and often is, simply the minute by minute adjustments required to work through the day, shopping for instance in a crowd supplies a lot of ingredients that will add to the adjustment load and will often leave people with a migraine caused by the stress of minute adjustments, background noise can sometimes do it or seeing a person that does not represent a threat, but you do not like them anyway will initiate a surge of adrenaline. Then you have "Eustress" coined by Hans Selye the famous stress pioneer, which can help balance the bad stress. Kissing your wife initiates eustress for example.

Cheers

Stress as a physical, mental, or emotional response to events that causes bodily or mental tension. Simply put, stress is any outside force or event that has an effect on our body or mind. You must have experienced stress at one time or another whether you know its definition and types or not.

Hi Guys,
We have a very sad story unfolding in Sydney Australia at the moment as people search for answers into the tragic suicide of a brilliant Australian news reader. Could anti-depressants be to blame for this tragic event, or is it simply another case of no-one understanding anxiety disorders. I suffered from panic attacks for about a decade, and eventually cured myself, no help or credit whatsoever is due to doctors or specialists, they did not have a clue as to cause or treatment, stress seminars were just as useless as expert after expert offered absolutely useless advice, and the people who have responded to this post without exception do not know enough about it to cover a postage stamp.

I don't mean that insultingly, because you guys simply join a group of people that have some extremely well educated scientists of medicine amongst the ranks. Today in my clinic I see people suffering exactly as I suffered from 1978 until 1987, and often you can do nothing to help them because they are sure the "experts" will fix them. The experts will not fix them because the cure lies in themselves, they have to learn enough about the condition to treat it naturally without crutches (antidepressants). or stay on antidepressants for life and hope a side effect does not get you.

My problem began in my childhood, I became a person with a great need to achieve (read David McClelland's research, "Theory of Needs"), in sport, in education, in business even in weekend pursuits like hunting coming second was never an option, it was always first or nothing, I would do everything in my power to be the best, or at least become as good as it was possible for me to become, without gambling.

I became champion in a lot of sports, and topped a lot of education courses. I went as far as I could go in my business (factory manager), and that is when it all started to unravel. Because of my perfectionist ideals I worked very long hours, became intolerant of bad performance amongst my staff, and at one stage was working from 6AM until 6PM driving 2.5 hours to a full contact Karate class, which finished at 10PM, driving back home arriving at 1230AM, studying until 3 AM and leaving for work 3 hours later, I was champion of the karate club, topping my courses and the brightest light (according to senior management) in my company, as an added burden, 4 quick deaths in the family, my father was one of them, and panic attacks started.

No-one had any advice on how to deal with this or even what it was, in the end you stop talking to people because you know they don't understand, and the comments they make have all been tried or are too stupid to contemplate trying, and learned helplessness can set in, suicide can be seen as a exit plan.


Slipping into the darkness
March 20, 2010

The safety of anti-depressants is under the spotlight again, writes Kim Arlington.

The lights were off. The dressing room at Channel Ten's Sydney studios appeared empty. But when the head of the wardrobe department walked in, she found Charmaine Dragun sitting in the corner, eating lollies.

The network's Perth newsreader, Dragun was high-profile, polished and professional. Off screen, she was bright and cheerful. But not on this day - Dragun was alone, in the dark.

A few weeks later, on November 2, 2007, Dragun took her life at The Gap. She was 29. Her death was all the more shocking because only a handful of people had known of her decade-long battle with depression and anxiety.

What led her to take that final, tragic step is the focus of an inquest at the Coroner's Court in Glebe. Her medical management and changes to her medication - which put her at increased risk of suicide - have come under close scrutiny. Whether she was misdiagnosed, and had bipolar disorder that went untreated, is being considered by a Deputy State Coroner, Malcolm MacPherson.

Dragun could not stop the darkness closing in, but her family hopes her death will shine a light on the issue of patient care, and give hope to others suffering in the grip of depression.

Suicide claims more Australian lives each year than road accidents. For every suicide, there are 30 attempts. It is also a known risk of depression, and pharmaceutical companies acknowledge that antidepressants may contribute to worsening depression and the emergence of suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

What warnings patients are given, how closely they are monitored for danger signs, and who monitors them, are all under the spotlight.

Dragun had been on antidepressants throughout her adult life. She took Zoloft from 1996 as she recovered from anorexia, and switched to Efexor - prescribed to 240,000 Australians each month - in 2004.

Close friends and workmates never suspected that anxiety and negativity were gnawing at her constantly; everyone around her was struck by her intelligence, warmth and consideration. But her illness created an enormous gulf between her objective reality and how she perceived herself: ''as utterly incompetent in nearly all aspects of life''.

Not wanting to burden others, Dragun kept up a positive front - but also worried it would damage her career if people knew she was depressed and taking medication.

One friend who saw through her bubbly ''performance'' was an SBS journalist, Sarah Bamford. ''Everything in her life seemed so perfect, but she couldn't get well,'' Bamford told the inquest. ''It was her mind that was tormenting her.''

Dragun was debilitated by worry, guilt and indecision. Her perfectionism pushed her to maintain impossibly high standards and left no room for self-forgiveness. The way depression turned her mind into its own trap was vividly illustrated in her diary entries from July 2007.

''I have been submerged under a torrent of raging thoughts and feelings, unable to break through to the surface where reality and reason lives," she wrote. "I can't think straight … can't escape my own misery and self-absorption.''

She doubted her ability ''to live in this world and function as a normal person''. Her greatest fear was that she would ''remain like this for the rest of my days, unsure of every step … and so obsessed with this crazy shit that no one would want to know me any more''.

Dragun had moved to Sydney in 2005 to read Perth's nightly news bulletin - at that point, produced live from Ten's Pyrmont studios. Homesick for Perth and unsatisfied at work, her illness worsened.

Though severely depressed, she was not referred to a psychiatrist by two GPs she consulted in November 2006 and July 2007. Instead, both increased her dosage of Efexor. In February 2007 she began counselling with a psychologist, Belinda Khong. By July, she was recording her first suicidal thoughts in her diary. She spoke of them to Khong, who believed they were ''fleeting''.

But the thoughts persisted. Khong's notes record that on September 28, Dragun was feeling ''quite suicidal''. Though she had no plan, she was ''thinking of a way that is easy''.

Khong phoned a psychiatrist that day, Wai Mun Tang, about assessing Dragun. Questioned by David Hirsch, counsel assisting the coroner, Khong agreed Dragun required an urgent psychiatric review. But she knew it would be at least 18 days before Tang could see Dragun - and her notes of their conversation made no mention of the patient's suicidal thoughts.

Tang told the inquest that Khong said nothing to her about suicide in that call. Had she known of Dragun's state, Tang would have had her urgently assessed and possibly hospitalised.

When Dragun saw Tang on October 16, she was put on a new treatment plan - reducing Efexor, starting on a new drug, Lexapro, and taking fish oil tablets. Dragun was elated, telling her mother the treatment was "revolutionary". Recalling her daughter's excitement at the prospect of eventually living without drugs, of regaining control of her mind and her moods swings, Estelle Dragun said: ''There seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel.''

By late October, however, Dragun was again despondent. On October 29, she told Bamford ''I expected I would feel better by now'' and told her mother she did not understand why the new medication was not working. Speaking to her mother on October 30, Dragun said Dr Tang ''wants me to give it a few more days to kick in''. Three days later, she jumped to her death.

STARTING a new antidepressant, or changing the dose, is a recognised danger period for suicidal thoughts and behaviour and intensifying depression. Dragun was doubly vulnerable, reducing her Efexor while introducing Lexapro. Combining the two drugs is not recommended by Lexapro's manufacturer, Lundbeck.

From October 27, the day she started taking Lexapro, friends noticed her showing signs of agitation, anxiety, confusion, nervousness and restlessness - all listed as side effects in product information from Lundbeck and Wyeth, which makes Efexor. Both note concerns that such symptoms ''may be precursors of emerging suicidality''.

The companies recommend that patients and their caregivers be alerted to the need to monitor for signs of suicidality and worsening depression. Dr Deborah Pelser, from Lundbeck, told the inquest that as patients may be too unwell to monitor themselves, it was a good idea for others to watch for these signs.

But those closest to Dragun were not advised to monitor any changes in her behaviour. Simon Struthers, her de facto partner, was not aware she had changed her medication until after she died.

A psychiatrist, Bill Lyndon, the director of the mood disorders unit at the Northside Clinic and a lecturer in psychiatry at Sydney University, told the Herald there should be regular monitoring of patients on antidepressants, especially early in their treatment. Patients who were prescribed antidepressants had an illness that was at least moderately severe and could be at risk, regardless of any side effects.

''It is important that the patient's welfare and well-being is monitored because of their illness, not just because of the medication they are taking,'' Dr Lyndon said.

Most GPs could competently diagnose and manage patients' depression, but ''good communication between all of the people who are involved in the patient's care'' was vital.

Estelle Dragun told the Herald that patients on antidepressants and their families should be ''given full understanding of the side effects and what might happen, so they are not put at risk'' or left in the dark. A patient's safety should be paramount, she said, and override any privacy concerns.

''If we were aware [of possible danger signs], then we could have supported her far better,'' she said. ''When [Charmaine] spoke to me, she didn't give any indication that she knew about any side effects. On the Monday before she died she said, 'Mum, I feel very unwell - I don't know what's going on.' She was desperate.''

It was a GP with 35 years' experience, Helena Berenson, who seriously questioned whether Dragun had bipolar disorder. The newsreader's history of anorexia and mood swings - feeling she could conquer the world, then crashing and feeling worthless - raised red flags during a consultation on September 29. Dr Berenson said Dragun's continued suffering, despite a decade on antidepressants, increased dosage and continuing psychotherapy, indicated the professionals ''hadn't got it right yet''.

Efexor, which Dragun had been taking for three years, is not recommended for bipolar patients.

Dragun, too, was searching for answers. ''She knew she shouldn't be as depressed as she was,'' Dr Berenson said. ''Things didn't add up for her, otherwise she wouldn't have been … asking for help.''

Estelle Dragun did not believe her daughter was consumed with suicidal thoughts when she went to The Gap, a notorious magnet for troubled souls. Impulsivity is another side effect of antidepressants, the inquest heard.

Woollahra Council has recently installed closed-circuit television cameras at The Gap, as well as telephones linked to emergency numbers and the 24-hour counselling service Lifeline. It has applied to the federal government for $2.5 million for further safety measures, including more security cameras, better lighting and new fences. Its campaign is supported by the Black Dog Institute, but the council is still waiting for funds.

The mayor of Woollahra, Andrew Petrie, said it was staggering that the government ''cannot find $2.5 million for something that is a national problem. If this was done years ago, it would have saved many lives.''

Anthony Sklavos saw Dragun in her last moments, pacing along a cliff ledge overlooking the sea. Although her torment was obvious, her body language convinced him she had not made a final decision, that a simple sign of love and concern could have saved her.

Calling triple-0, Sklavos was instructed, for safety reasons, not to approach Dragun. She cast one last look back at him; she jumped just as the police arrived. The call records his anguished lament: ''Oh, man, I could have done something …''

Sklavos is not the only one haunted by regret that Dragun was able to slip away.

Cheers

Forces from the out-of-doors world impinging on the individual. Stress is a usual part of life that can help us discover and grow. Conversely, tension can origin us important problems.
Stress issues mighty neurochemicals and hormones that arrange us for activity. If we don't take activity, the tension answer can lead to wellbeing problems. Prolonged, uninterrupted, unforeseen, and unmanageable tensions are the most impairing kinds of stress.

Hi Shane,

I think you are still missing the point mate, most chronic stress is caused by an elevated base line residual stress, even the sufferer does not know it is there. If they understood the collection of symptoms, of stress, they would quickly pick up on it, but this is the realm of practitioners, not everyday people. I have just counted 23 symptoms that are caused by stress, from "The Treatment of Anxiety Disorders" second edition, by Gavin Andrews et al.

Many clever people suffer from panic attacks for decades because they don't realise they have an elevated residual base line of anxiety, that never leaves them. This may have been caused by something long gone, such as a job that required a lot of rushing creating a heightened awareness of time constraints, they may have learned to live like this, so they are always moving to fast and never relaxing.

They have forgotten how to return to normal.


Cheers

Stress
The condition which occurs when the brain overrides the bodies natural desire to choke the living **** out of some Asshole who desperately deserves it.

Hi jezabelabbey,

That severe stress reaction is the result of poor frustration resolution skills, which passes quickly if you want it to, whereas the accumulation of minute by minute adjustments in a limited time frame or some other high skill / concentration demanding job, over time, can reset your fight and flight responses to much lower levels causing an almost continuous out pouring of adrenaline in short bursts. This creates an over alert person who is heading for a nervous breakdown.
Often this person awakens tired with an uneasy feeling that never leaves them, at this point this person is in trouble.

Cheers

Hi Guys,
There was a good program on stress on ABC1 tonight, researcher Robert Sapotsky presented his research in a 1 hour doco, it was well worth watching.

http://killerstress.stanford.edu/

Cheers

Hi Guys,
Everyone thinks they know a lot about stress and so far no-one has demonstrated any real understanding at all, here is a stress quiz which will help you all to familiarise yourself with the subject a bit more .

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/scie...tress-quiz.html

Cheers

To my mind a stress has lots of definition but the most useful medcine from it is sweets and sugar.


____________
Indian sweets

Hi Kate Sudarkina,

We should not trivialise stress like this, stress is a major damage contributor in everyone's life, we simply do not know how to switch it off, and the response for us is far greater than the actual stress. As Robert Sapolosky says in the link I gave earlier, "A Zebra running for it's life, from a lion, on the plains of Africa, would not be able to understand how public speaking could switch on the exact same stress response in us, as the lion did for it in it's life threatening situation"

Immediately after the Zebra has escaped the lion it can switch off it's stress response ( without the aid of sugar laden sweets, which was your solution), but we have forgotten how to do this so our stress response ( fight or flight) continues to run, and build up, until our bodies start to break down from it.

Stress: Portrait of a Killer
A National Geographic Special featuring Stanford University’s Robert Sapolsky

MORE ON STRESS
Most common health problems, caused or worsened by stress

* Cardiovascular disease and Hypertension
* Depression and anxiety
* Sexual dysfunction
* Women = infertility, irregular cycles
* Men = erectile dysfunction
* Frequent colds
* Sleeplessness + fatigue
* Trouble concentrating
* Memory loss
* Changes in appetite

If Robert Sapolsky's health problems above could be considered as units in a University course, imagine how many credit points would be required to complete each unit.

In anxiety disorders caused by stress, I have just counted 24 (credit points) symptoms, caused by a slight reduction in oxygen to the brain. Ref. Page 99 "The Treatment of Anxiety Disorders" 2nd edition, by Gavin Andrews, Mark Creamer, Rocco Crino, Caroline Hunt, Lisa Lampe and Andrew Page- All University Professors or Assoc.Profs in the research and treatment of anxiety disorders.

Cheers

Hi Guys,
Who suffers the most stress is it the low ranking member that any higher ranking member with a bad temper can take it out on, or is it the high ranking member that gets grossly annoyed whenever some other member invades his patch.
Watch the video and find out.

http://killerstress.stanford.edu/about-robert-sapolsky


Cheers

Hi Guys,
My Life Has Been Full Of Tragedies, Most Of Which Never Occurred

This famous quote belonged to Mark Twain, and was used to describe the stress he suffered, caused by imaginary stressors. Many people suffer from distress, but how many really understand what it is they are suffering from, stress has become such a catchword it is used for almost everything, and consequently means everything and nothing.

Mental anxiety is a treatable disorder with biological and conditioned causes that can lead to depression. Anxiety disorders have a genetic component; some babies are born with a heightened nervousness compared to other babies that are very calm, nothing seems to upset them. Anxious babies need a very stable environment to dampen their nervous disposition or they will grow into nervous adults, and if the right set of conditions present, gradually slide into depression. While there is an undisputable genetic input incorrect thinking is the biggest danger for suffering anxiety disorders: Martin E.P.Seligman – Learned Optimism.

People learn to worry and become pessimists instead of optimists and from here they become helpless, they see no light at the end of the tunnel. They feel they have no control over what happens to them, and the future becomes bleak. These people often develop a layer of abdominal fat because of cortisol production during these stressful periods. Recently macaque moneys in the lowest pecking order were also shown to have the most abdominal fat, this fat is particularly dangerous because of the ease with which it can be mobilised into the bloodstream and arteries. Most people do not understand the subtle meaning of worry and think it only applies to large obvious issues.

Books by Claire Weekes, Seligman, Gavin Andrews etc have shown how easy it is to learn to think correctly and remove an anxious state.

Cheers

Researchers characterize tension as a personal, mental, or emotional answer to happenings that determinants whole body or mental tension. Simply put, tension is any out-of-doors force or happening that has an result on our body or mind

Hi Shane,
When you wake up feeling down and not knowing why what is the explanation for this, this is internal machinations of the brain, where did it come from and why? The "out of doors" stressor is not as bad as the stress it produces, the imaginary problem, the feeling of doom and gloom.

Cheers

There are many impact of stress on health & longevity. For more info read our article The Impact of Stress on DHEA Production and Health

Hi Revitamedical,

Supplementation of DHEA is not supported in most cases by high quality research this Cochrane review also found no reason to take it. http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab006221.html

The Okinawa centenarian study has found that for some reason the Okinawans lose DHEA at a much slower rate than westerners, probably they surmised because of diet and lifestyle. Okinawans eat a calorie sparse, antioxidant and fibre rich diet, get plenty of exercise and look after their spirituality.

Cheers

Hi Guys,
Psychological stress is.....................

Brain Strain

Whenever people present at the clinic they always inform of their stress levels, and usually allude to stress as being the prime reason they are suffering from muscle dysfunction. When they talk about stress it soon becomes apparent they do not understand what they think they do, the real meaning of stress and especially the subtle nuances of stress are alien to them.

Everyone understands physical stress such as running long distances, you run beyond your physical fitness limits fatigue sets in and muscle problems, such as lactic acid build up, prevent you from continuing. You are forced to retire until the muscles clear the build up, but what about mental stress?

Most people relate mental stress to large problems such as deaths in families, bankruptcy, family breakups etc, and for sure they can cause the nervous breakdowns, but so can smaller brain overloads. Continuous mental fatigue brought about from any cause is capable of causing a brain overload. Not enough sleep, concentration beyond the fatigue limit for the brain and problems begin to arise. When people are subjected to long term mental tension anxiety can gradually creep in and people seek a relief from this strain and often excessive drinking is the result, sufferers often smoke more believing smoking helps relieve stress, but research has shown that it does nothing to relieve stress, it actually creates another habit to become anxious about. Continuous strain can trigger panic attacks and these attacks can and often do wreck peoples lives, because of the fear of them returning, they do keep on returning. Panic attacks have now been confirmed as a cause of essential hypertension, which covers about 95% of all the diagnosis of high blood pressure. The excitement from kissing your wife is called eustress. This is good stress.

Cheers

As for me, I know that I'm stressed when I get irritated too easily.
Also, when there are too many things that I have to finish and needs to rush things over. I feel so worked up and just wants to rest.
I try to relieve my stress by sleeping or if I have more time, I go to the spa!

Hi Hibino,
What you are talking about here is mental fatigue which is a long way short of the disease stress, which often requires years of psychiatric treatment. Panic attacks, a manifestation of stress is now considered a cause of hypertension, which is a cause of heart disease. Read what the health experts think.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P...d00028-0003.pdf

Cheers