But don't you just love the implications that it is the patient's fault or weakness rather than a problem with a system that provides so little support or a society that demands that you go until you drop? And then there is the hint that you aren't dealing with a real disease and if you would just get your head screwed on straight then you wouldn't be using up their precious resources. Hey, guys, you can't cure it. Why would you think that we can?
The facts are that our endocrine system, which is far closer to being the master control center than anything else we have, is based on a series of "set points" or thresholds that determine how we function. Stressors can move those set points and that allows us to adapt to our environments. Unfortunately for us, once moved it is darned hard to move them back - especially if we are trying to do it in the same environment which caused them to move in the first place.
A good source for exploring these ideas is the work of Rhawn Joseph at
http://brainmind.com/