Anxiety is also dysfunctional if it is causing physical tension in the body, or if it is generated by a constant stream of self-criticism, which can be self-fulfilling.

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"Take the apostrophe, there is so much confusion over how to use it you have to wonder if it has become dysfunctional, " he says.

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The Garden is dysfunctional. if you let Lin walk, you can sign away half of your fanbase to the Brooklyn Nets or the Houston Rockets.

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Dysfunctional boards almost always erupt into internecine warfare if nothing is done to allow the causes of dissension and disagreement to be addressed and, hopefully, amicably resolved.

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Mr Hardwick also said that, if there were to be an emergency, "the dysfunctional cell call bell system gave us no confidence that officers would promptly attend".

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Most American intellectuals and U.S. politicians are hoping Americans will get used to permanently-higher government spending as a share of GDP, and eventually, higher tax burdens, if even on the middle class (as exist in the dysfunctional European welfare states).

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If there is a misfire, the organism becomes inefficient or even dysfunctional.

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It will rise still higher if the doctors and chemists decide that Viagra has a similar use for women (who are apparently as sexually dysfunctional as men).

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People will be speculating about how dysfunctional the U.S. political process has become and whether it is broken beyond repair (if they are not asking that then they should be).

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