"Aww, you have a migraine...you must be stressed!"

I found chapter 12 to be quite interesting. Mainly because of all the various ways in which stress effects us physically. I'm not sure about others, but I used to see the commercials about people with depression and hear the commentator say "depression also has physical symptoms" and I would think "how?". How could thoughts effect your body or cause physical pain? They're just thoughts...right?

After reading this chapter and doing further research, it all makes sense. For example, every time when finals (or tests in general) roll around, I have tremendous pain in my back, not 3days before, but on the day of the exam. For many of our physical pains we can usually pinpoint a source ("my back hurt because I had to lift boxes all day at work." type of thing). Once I'm done with the exam, the pain is gone! According to the book, stress from having to take tests (and other things) can have physical effects on our bodies.

So maybe our Psych professor, should just spare us all and forget about a final!