I am incredibly fascinated by Murphy’s work in trying to predict stress. And her interest in engaging in interdisciplinary work is understandable given the need for a variety of testable theories that she can leverage her immense data to evaluate. However, one must ask whether this is indeed a futile effort. After all, in my reading of the stress literature in Neuroscience, it seems to be that a whole wide variety of possible triggers can heighten stress. And not all stress is equal. It is possible to predict when a trigger might occur, but it seems challenging to live al life where you are avoiding all possible triggers. Surely, the goal of such research should be educating people on their triggers well in advance of when the next trigger could be without any information on when the next trigger will occur but just that they must be aware that this exists and here are some of the best practices in order to handle the trigger when it does come. It is like being a pilot. A pilot can try to use the most advanced weather systems in order to avoid possible thunderstorms, but sometimes it is just enough to know that there will be thunderstorms because the pilot has been trained and the plane has been built in such a way that it can handle the thunderstorm.
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