Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics

Illness as a result of the preparation component of the anxiety reaction
There are many patterns of symptoms, illness and physical discomfort, caused by the different ways the body prepares itself to deal with the possible threat that the anxiety reaction is warning us of.
We could divide these patterns into three groups, where the symptoms have been caused by:
Over-activity of the sympathetic nervous system. These would include muscle tension and pain, headaches, muscular stiffness and fibrositis, heart palpitations and tremors.
Over-activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, secondary to the sympathetic nervous system’s over-activity. This can cause digestive disturbances and the tendency to faint.
Complex patterns of preparedness, which we can call the as if patterns.

Symptoms from chronic preparedness for physical action
Chronic over-preparedness for physical action that never eventuates, producing chronically tense muscles, can lead to muscle stiffness and inflammation of certain points within the muscles which we call fibrositis. This is a painful condition that we don’t fully understand. We do know, however, that fibrositis occurs in chronically tense muscles, that it is painful and disabling, and that it doesn’t affect trained athletes. Regular muscular exercise seems to prevent fibrositis in a person who suffers from frequent anxiety due to regular overload of the nervous system.
The adrenaline and noradrenalin secreted by the sympathetic nervous system in anxiety stimulate the heart’s pumping action and exert variable effects on the blood vessels. It used to be thought that chronic anxiety might cause chronically raised blood pressure, because it can be demonstrated that acute anxiety will produce a transient increase in blood pressure.
However, the condition known as essential hypertension, the high blood pressure tendency that often runs in families and which causes heart failure, heart attacks and strokes, is now considered by medical investigators not to be associated with anxiety. It is theoretically possible that sudden changes in blood pressure due to acute anxiety might well precipitate a crisis in a patient with essential hypertension, but the primary hypertension (raised blood pressure) is not now regarded as anxiety-related.
While we aren’t sure about blood pressure, we do know that anxiety can certainly produce uncomfortable disturbances of rhythm of the heart beat. These ‘palpitations’ may not be harmful, but they are sometimes disconcerting; they are worse with fatigue and the use of excessive stimulants such as tea and coffee.

*64/129/5*

The mental status examination is one of the techniques used by psychiatrists and other mental health workers. The purpose is to guide observation and assist the interviewer in gathering essential data about mental functioning. It consists of standard items, which are routinely covered, insuring nothing important is overlooked. The format also helps mental health workers record their findings in a fashion that is easily understood by their colleagues.
Three aspects of mental functioning are always included: mood and affect, thought processes, and cognitive functioning. Mood and affect refer to the dominant feeling state. They are deduced from general appearance, what the client reports, posture, body movement, and attitude toward the interviewer. Thought processes zero in on how the client presents his ideas. Are his thoughts ordered and organized, or does he jump all over the place? Are his sentences logical? Is the content (what he talks about) sensible, or does it include delusions and bizarre ideas? Finally, cognitive functioning refers to intellectual functioning, memory, ability to concentrate, comprehensions, and ability to abstract. This latter portion of the mental status examination involves asking specific questions, for example, about current events, definitions of words, or meanings of proverbs. The interviewer considers the individual’s education, life-style, and occupation in making a judgment about the responses.
If the alcohol counselor can get some training in how to do a simple mental status examination, it can be helpful in spotting clients with particular problems. It can also greatly facilitate your communication with mental health workers. Just telling a psychiatrist the fellow you are referring to him is “crazier than a bedbug” isn’t very useful.
*165\331\2*

Why do we have a biological clock? It has been suggested that, during the course of evolution, organisms have maximized their use of the environment so as to maximize their chances of survival. It has been shown that man’s efficiency varies during the 24 hour period. We perform best between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. in the morning, and worst at 3 a.m. at night when most of us are sleeping. Hence, for man, sleep coincides with the time of lowest efficiency, which is at night. A phase map can be constructed for each bodily process within the 24 hour period. The phase map for body temperature shows that temperature is highest in the day and lowest at night. It has been suggested that the phase map of sleep coincides with the reduction of body temperature at night Dr Charles Czeisler of the Harvard Medical School claims that he can shift a person’s circadian rhythm quickly by exposing them to strong light and thus resetting the body block.

What about a natural body clock? Do we have one that is not under the influence of the sun? In one experiment, conducted in 1972, a French cave explorer, Michel Siffre, lived underground in a Texas cave for seven months, away from all noises and civilization. He was not permitted to have any watches, clocks, radios, or televisions. In other words, his external cues for time were removed completely. Under these experimental conditions, without an external time cue, the body clock was free running. After a period of days the natural body clock would emerge. It was found that under free running conditions the human body clock was about 25 hours.

However, once he returned to the natural environment, the body clock was reset to 24 hours again. This resetting of the biological dock depends on external cues, the strongest being the change from dark to light.

Experiments have also shown that if we are placed in an artificially lit day of 19 hours and an artificially dark night of 9 hours, we can be trained to live in a 28 hour clock. In this case the biological clock gradually becomes a 28 hour clock instead of a 24 hour clock, and the phase map of temperature shows a maximum once every 28 hours instead of once every 24.

*48\174\4*

This is essential as we become more experienced in mental exercises. The aim is more complete relaxation of the mind. When we are in comfortable positions the relaxation of our mind comes largely from the feeling of bodily comfort. When we achieve this relaxation in situations of physical discomfort, the relaxation comes from the mind itself. This is what we aim to achieve.

We can practise in positions of varying discomfort according to our taste and the degree to which we have mastered the exercises. When we can do it well lying on the floor, we can try lying with a few pebbles under our back in the region of the shoulder blades. When we can do this, we are immediately aware of the much greater relaxation of our mind, and we soon notice that the relaxation remains with us for increasing periods in our everyday life.

In the sitting position we can put a small clip on the skin of our arm. We immediately relax deeply so as to avoid the feeling of discomfort. This soon passes off, and we come to feel a very complete relaxation of our mind. Young people can practise in the cross-legged, squatting position, and maintain a sufficient degree of discomfort by pulling their legs under their buttocks as the yogis do.

*74\57\2*