Understanding Psychological Stress
All of us experience stress when situations are challenging and out of our control.
In fact, now-a-day, stress has become a very common term and a part of our everyday life. There can’t be any single person who has never experience stress in his lifetime. Whether it is an employee working in multinational company or student from pre-primary school or housewife, everyone is experiencing some amount of psychological stress.
Also Check : Psychological Stress In Modern Day
Psychological Stress
According to mental health foundation, “stress is the feeling of being overwhelmed or unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure.”
Stress is a body’s way of response to feelings, event or situation that disturb the sense of well-being. It is our body’s reaction to pressure or threat that get manifested in the form of psychological and physical symptoms.
It is a common observation that with the expedite progress of civilization, more and more people are experiencing psychological stress. A world is becoming a place with unrelenting demands that can never be fully met leading to a subjective state of distress and discomfort.
In the modern day, manging the hectic pace of lives is inevitably calling for stressful life.
When you are under stress, you experience a constant a sense of insecurity and excessive worry. You are unable to focus for a long period and easily get restlessness or irritable. You can feel sad and hopeless. You get general aches and pains in your body. You notice digestive issues in the form of indigestion and change in appetite. You are unable to get to sleep or stay asleep. It’s easy for you to gain in extra pounds, especially around waistline.
A concept of stressors
Different situations and life events can trigger stress. Circumstances or emotions that make an individual stressful are called as “stressors”. Stressors have a major influence upon mood, sense of well-being and behaviour.
Stressors are either external situations or internal emotions that challenge the adaptive capabilities of an individual. External stressors are mostly the social and environmental circumstances that make an individual stressful. Examples are family issues, financial hardship, employment issues, social circumstances, parenting, positive life events, traumatic events, academic pressure and daily hassles.
On the other hand, internal stressors are holding a false belief that there is something wrong with us or something bad will happen in the future.
Whether internal or external, potential stressors come in different forms and impact everyone differently.
According to age, gender and type of work-pattern, there could be several reasons for stress. Some of the common stressors experienced in life are as follows.
Family issues in the form of bereavement, divorce or separation, conflict with family members, marital dissatisfaction, caregiver responsibility and chaotic home environment can create potential stress.
Employment issues in the form of job uncertainty, workplace-conflict, extra-long working hours, lack of opportunities in career, lack of job satisfaction, unclear expectations of work, working under dangerous condition and discrimination at a workplace are common reasons for stress.
Financial hardship in the form of loss of job, major financial setback in business, long-term unemployment, inability to pay bills and inability to deal with the increasing costs of living are well-known reasons of stress.
Medical illnesses in the form of chronic medical conditions such as arthritis, cancer or HIV act as a persistent source of stress.
Traumatic events in the form of physical injury, natural disaster, theft and imprisonment can also cause stress.
Personality traits puts some individual under constant pressure. People who are highly competitive, overachievers, inpatients, perfectionist and highly aware of time-pressure
Low socio-economic status in the form of poverty, poor housing, overcrowding and low household income lead to constant situation of social pressure.
Student issues in the form of examination, competitive environment, peer pressure, completing assignments, balancing the demands of a family with study lead to constant conflict and stress.
Overthinking in the form of future uncertainty, past guilt, persistent failure, rejection, criticism and judgement and unexpected happenings can also act as stress.
And most important is the positive life event. Yes, positive life events such as scoring good marks, getting a new job, getting married, achieving success and promotion at a workplace put individual under constant stress.
Though each one of us experiences some kind of stress, there are some specific groups of people who are more susceptible to experience stressful situations. Prejudice, discrimination and stigma make these people more prone to develop psychological stress. People with poor mental resilience, disability or long-term medical issue, minority ethnic group, and financial insecurity experience more stress. Gender wise, women experienced more stress due to their multiple responsibilities.
If left unmanaged, the high level and persistent stress can turn into burnout. In the light of this, effective stress management is the key for physically and mentally healthy life.
Yes, there are strategies useful to reduce intensity of stress level and subsequently anxiety.
Disclaimer : The purpose of this blog is to create mental health awareness. This information is not a replacement for medical treatment or counseling therapy.
