The Myth of Normal 71

a cumulative correlation between stress and relapse: after one stressful life event, the relapse risk doubles or triples; after three or more, the risk increases by five- to nearly sevenfold; histories of childhood trauma, which are double or triple those of the general population; physical and sexual abuse histories correlated with higher relapse rates; being less in touch with their emotions, in general, and therefore less able to protect themselves from stress; and social support mitigating the effect of life stresses.[22] Over the years I have interviewed dozens of people with MS, many of them long before I was aware of such studies. I have yet to find an exception to these general findings. The “long-continued grief and vexation” of which Jean-Martin Charcot spoke a century and a half ago factor mightily in the presence and severity of the illness. As in the other autoimmune conditions, in virtually every case the childhood patterning that led people to be overconscientious, hyper-responsible, and emotionally stoic about their own needs was evident—as were stresses preceding the illness, such as interpersonal conflict, family crisis, loss of a relationship, or added duties at work. Bianca—like Miray, a physician—also had double vision (diplopia) as her first symptom of MS. Now thirty-seven, she first experienced it in her twenties while she was stressing herself over her school examinations. “Through the years,” she told me as we spoke online, she from her home in Bucharest and I in Vancouver, “all the time that I had the symptom of double vision I was preparing for exams or a lot of stress in work—professional stress. The other symptoms, I make the connection, like numbness and tingling or pins-and-needles sensations or paralysis, happen usually when I have personal problems and emotional problems.” Contrary to medical expectation, Bianca has made the disease work for her. She has learned to make friends with and allow herself to be instructed by a condition most of us would naturally regard as pure misfortune. “I was overcompensating all my