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What is the role of stress and psychology in CFS?
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CFS patients are hypersensitive to stress by #56153 19 year
Preliminary research suggests that Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome may involve a brain disorder ( specifically, HPA dysfunction ) which affects the stress response system in our bodies. Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome patients are standardly observed to be hypersensitive to stress. Stress does not merely mean unpleasant experiences, but rather any biological stressors, physical or emotional, which prompt a protective reaction in the body and which may alter the physiologic equilibrium known as "homeostasis". Stress in this physiological sense may be subtle and may not necessarily be noticed. Merely hearing loud sounds or seeing bright lights may be stressful in this context.
High-stress events sometimes seem to "trigger" the first appearance of the illness, and they will usually worsen the symptoms if the illness has already developed. Because stress is often mistakenly thought of as a purely emotional phenomenon with no physical aspect, the correlation of Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome with stress makes some people imagine that CFS must a non-physical "psychological illness". Medical studies show that stress plays an important role in several immune-mediated illnesses, and in fact a new field of research called psychoneuroimmunology has been created to study just this phenomenon.
HPA and neurotransmitter dysfunction may make CFS patients excessively irritable, and may prompt panic attacks. These behaviors might be misinterpreted, thereby reinforcing a misconception that CFS is merely a psychological condition.
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Preliminary research suggests that Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome may involve a brain disorder ( specifically, HPA dysfunction ) which affects the stress response system in our bodies. Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome patients are standardly observed to be hypersensitive to stress. Stress does not merely mean unpleasant experiences, but rather any biological stressors, physical or emotional, which prompt a protective reaction in the body and which may alter the physiologic equilibrium known as "homeostasis". Stress in this physiological sense may be subtle and may not necessarily be noticed. Merely hearing loud sounds or seeing bright lights may be stressful in this context.
High-stress events sometimes seem to "trigger" the first appearance of the illness, and they will usually worsen the symptoms if the illness has already developed. Because stress is often mistakenly thought of as a purely emotional phenomenon with no physical aspect, the correlation of Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome with stress makes some people imagine that CFS must a non-physical "psychological illness". Medical studies show that stress plays an important role in several immune-mediated illnesses, and in fact a new field of research called psychoneuroimmunology has been created to study just this phenomenon.
HPA and neurotransmitter dysfunction may make CFS patients excessively irritable, and may prompt panic attacks. These behaviors might be misinterpreted, thereby reinforcing a misconception that CFS is merely a psychological condition.
Viewed 15532 times
All #56153's Answers