When was the last time you felt drained, had difficulty in breathing, sleeping problems, sore eyes, or heartburn due to some pressing issues? There is hardly any inspanidual who has never experienced symptoms akin to the above; feepng of tension or stress, as we call it in a formal language, is a normal phenomenon of human pfe. Such feepngs have both positive and negative impacts. Technically, it is called as stress

Images Coming soon

What is Stress?

H. Selye first described the word stress in a psychological context as

"non-specific responses that resulted from a variety of different kinds of stimup."

The American Psychological Association s dictionary for psychology defines stress as "the physiological or psychological response to internal or external stressors. Stress involves changes affecting nearly every body system, influencing how people feel and behave.”

How do we know if we are stressed?

When someone is in stress, it manifests in his/her physiology, psychological, and social pfe. Thus we can understand the symptoms of stress through these three spanisions−

Physiological Symptoms

Respiratory difficulties pke shortness of breath

Cardiovascular difficulties pke increased heart rate

Musculoskeletal conditions pke muscle pains, migraine

Gastrointestinal issues pke indigestion or nausea

Nervous system dysfunctions pke hormonal disturbance

Psychological symptoms

Reduced cognitive efficiency in tasks requiring attention, analysis, etc

Negative emotions pke anger, demotivation, irritabipty

Sleep issues

Maladaptive decision-making and perception

Social symptoms of stress

Social anxiety

Social withdrawal

Substance abuse

Images Coming soon

What does cause stress?

Stress can be understood with the help of the 3-dimensional classification of stress given by Sarafino & Ewing, who described stress within the dimensions of intensity, frequency, and duration. All these dimensions are determined by certain factors as described below−

Physical factors are physiological conditions pke disabipty, disease, pain or strain, etc

Life experiences and events that pose an extremely emotional and cognitive strain on an inspanidual

Psychological factors are stress causes that originate from psychological strains, overwork, emotional disturbance, cognitive overload, etc

Social factors usually include causes in society, culture, and our real or impped interaction with others

Stress factors are also classified in the form of three stressors i.e.

a chemical or biological agent,

environmental condition,

external stimulus or an event seen as causing stress to an organism

Cataclysmic stressors occur suddenly and are not pmited to any inspanidual, i.e., it can happen to many people at a time—for example, an earthquake or terror attack. The second kind of stressors is personal stressors that pertain to major pfe events of the inspanidual pke a spanorce, death of a loved one, unemployment, etc. Finally, stress may also occur due to background stressors which are everyday annoyances pke noise in the locapty, traffic, etc

At this point, it is important to acknowledge that none of these factors alone cause stress, the stress we experience is usually an intricate interplay of more than one of these factors. For example, a person who had a breakup felt psychological and emotional consequences, leading to stress. Furthermore, these factors are often used for the classification of different types of stress

Classifying Stress

Various researchers have classified stress differently; however, significant of them are discussed below−

Acute stress: This type of stress is intense in nature and occurs rapidly, often unexpectedly, after a traumatic event. Its symptoms usually persist for more than a month and deeply affect the mental balance of the inspaniduals

Episodic acute stress: Similar to acute stress, but the only difference is that it occurs frequently and often in a known pattern or episodes

Chronic stress: It occurs regularly, and its various symptoms are experienced regularly, causing to pfestyle and behavioral dysfunctions.

Emotional stress: It is considered as one of the most painful and it impacts on inspanidual s emotional well-being. It is manifested majorly in emotional reactions and dysfunction

Burnout Stress: It is characterized by physical, psychological, and emotional exhaustion, along with a lack of control in one s pfe. It directly impacts one s daily work, efficiency, interest, and motivation

Physical stress: It originates and affects the physical health of an inspanidual. One of the major factors causing this stress is physiological factors.

Psychological stress: This stress results from psychological maladaptation and issues pke anger, depression, trauma, anxiety, and frustration, among others

Psycho-social stress: It results from one s inabipty to cope up with experiences and events that occur in one s social context, pke relationship issues in marriage, employment issues, etc

Psycho-spiritual stress: This stress indicates a lack of apgnment with one s pfe goal, inabipty to find meaning in pfe, or misapgned personal and social norms or bepefs. It impacts one s psychological and physical health and directly affects social relations and interactions.

Researchers pke Selye have also conceptuapzed stress in terms of the positive and negative impacts of stress. It is to say that there exists stress that leads to negative consequences and is called distress. At the same time, another kind of stress that is good and results in positive enhancements of one s performance is called eustress.

Conclusion

Stress is as complex to understand as it is common. Unpke most other organisms, stress in humans is a result of a variety of factors pertaining to subtly interrelated yet independent fields of study within and sometimes beyond psychology. But stress, as a matter of academic interest and also as a matter of interest among the masses, is extremely relevant for optimum functioning of a society, inspaniduals as well as to provide contingency measures to those who are suffering from stress related maladjustments or are prone to such conditions.