Do you or someone you know suffer from constant worrying?  Is it interfering with your life and relationships?

While it’s true that most people worry from time to time, worrying that is obsessive and intrusive in a person’s life may be a sign of a psychological problem called generalized anxiety disorder.

Individuals who suffer from GAD often worry most about social relationships with family, friends or coworkers but use negative methods to cope with those worries, ranging from over-nurturing to extreme detachment.

In the long run, these unhealthy coping mechanisms actually harm the relationships that the person is worried about.

A person with GAD may also worry incessantly about other problems such as work issues, money and health.

Mental symptoms of the disorder include difficulty concentrating, fatigue, irritability, trouble sleeping and restlessness while physical symptoms manifest themselves as muscle tension, shakiness, headaches and stomach problems.

GAD can manifest itself at any age, including childhood.  It occurs in women somewhat more frequently than men.

Most treatments for GAD involve cognitive behavioral therapy, which is usually successful for about 60 percent of people.  There are also certain prescriptions that can be administered by a doctor or psychiatrist.

The placebo effect says that some perceived problems or illnesses can be improved if a patient simply believes he or she is being treated for it.

While a doctor may never admit to prescribing placebos, it happens more often than you think, according to new research.

A recent survey, led by a McGill Psychiatry researcher, has found that one in five physicians and psychiatrists in Canadian medical schools have administered or prescribed a placebo.

An even higher number of psychiatrists – more than 35 percent – said they had prescribed subtherapeutic doses of medication, which is known as “pseudoplacebos.”  Pseudoplacebos are doses of active medication that are below, sometimes considerably below, the minimal recommended therapeutic level, meaning they are unlikely to have any real effect.

The survey explored attitudes toward placebo use and found that more than 60 percent of psychiatrists believe that placebos can have therapeutic effects.  This proportion is considerably higher than other medical practioners, according to lead researcher and McGill Psychiatry Professor Amir Raz.

“Psychiatrists seem to place more value in the influence placebos wield on the mind and body,” said Raz in a press release.

Only 2 percent of the psychiatrists responded that they believe that placebos have no clinical benefit at all.

The research was funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Oxford-McGill Neuroscience Collaboration.

Stress is our body’s ability to respond to our surroundings–how we react to our family, our work, and various events in our lives.

Stress is normal. Everyone is under some kind of stress—every day. But there are two kinds of stress: the good and the bad. Good stress can be something like getting a new job or buying a first home. Bad stress can range from experiencing a difficult financial situation to having a sick family member, to missing a flight to getting a flat tire in the pouring rain.

Short-lived stress rarely affects long-term health. But stress becomes a problem when it’s chronic and difficult to identify. Stress manifests itself through feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger, frustration, guilt, or excitement. Our mood starts to fluctuate. Some people drink or smoke; others opt for healthier outlets such as jogging. Some just go shopping.

Eventually, our body starts to ache here and there, first a little bit, then more and more. Those may seem like “phantom aches” at first, but as time goes by, they can become legitimate physical health threats. If left unchecked, stress can ultimately cause blood pressure oscillations and weaken the immune system, which makes us much more susceptible to illnesses that our body, under normal circumstances, would be able to fight.

People can eventually die from the effects of stress because, at the end of the day, those under stress are going to have more heart disease, more diabetes, more obesity, and more gastric problems like ulcers than people who are relatively stress-free.

One of the most severe types of stress is called post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that occurs after experiencing an extremely stressful situation or witnessing a life-threatening event, like a terrorist attack, a violent personal assault, or a natural disaster.

People suffering from PTSD have symptoms that include flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, mood changes, depression, and the inability to deal with everyday life. These are not those nutty people walking around in ripped and filthy clothes, talking to themselves and their imaginary friends. They are fully functional people, people like you and me, who may be stressed out by the daily media reminders of kidnapped children, serial killers, and sexual abuse. And oftentimes, these people don’t even know they have PTSD.

Signs of Stress

–Do you tend to race through the day, do everything yourself, and set unrealistic goals?

–Do you make a big deal of everything, blow up easily, and get angry when kept waiting?

–Do you frequently neglect your diet, exercise, and your sleep?

–Do you lack close, supportive relationships outside your family?

–Do you often fail to see the humor in situations that others find amusing?

–Do you ignore symptoms of stress and have no time for questions like this?
If you answered yes to most of these questions, chance are you are STRESSED OUT. Do something about it.

It’s important that you take stress seriously and learn how to handle it.

First, recognize the signs and acknowledge them.

Second, ask yourself: Am I leading a healthy life, exercising, not abusing drugs, including cigarettes and alcohol? If not, you have to make some lifestyle changes. The solution, many times, is right in front of you. But for the most part, if you recognize stress as something that is out there, and if you’re able to manage it adequately, it will have no dire effects on your health. It is only when you ignore it and it becomes chronic and unstoppable that you need to seek professional help.