Stress is a killer. It may not automatically result in heart attack, or stroke, or even the infamous stomach ulcer your parents may have equated with excess worry. But it always results in something, even though that something may be so elusive that it avoids detection entirely, especially by that nebulous entity commonly referred to as the self.
Because perception is such a subjective business, any term containing it must be immediately regarded with suspicion. The concept of self-perception is unreliable for this reason, which may explain why stress-induced symptoms so often remain misdiagnosed, if not ignored completely. It isn't so much that crash detection is disabled; the situation has more in common with blaming the user for inherent operating-system instability.
To use an actual example of this perceptual projection, I routinely blame too much coffee for the sensation that my heart is about to explode. The truth, of course, has more to do with trying to solve unsolvable problems. I love a good paradox as much as the next guy; it's just that the next guy probably won't take full responsibility for the outcome.
But he may live a longer, happier life, and although—in my opinion—longevity is overrated, there's something to be said for happiness, no?
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