Stress and its Effects

Stress and its Effects

Paullette Hattias

Hodges University

ENG 1101

Professor A. Farhadi

July 6, 2014

Stress and its Effects

Stress is tension or psychological pressure. We experience stress when we feel threatened, physically or psychologically. It all starts when we make any attempt to deal with a stressful situation. And it continues our our constant desire to balance our needs against the demands of our environment and the realistic possibilities to which we have access. The way in which we adjust to the sources of stress in our lives affects our health; when stress is prolonged or severe, it contributes to the appearance of physical and psychological disorders.

There are many sources of stress. Stressors are events or circumstances that trigger stress. Some situations of life and death, like war and natural disasters, are inherently stressful. Even events that are generally considered positive, such as a wedding or a promotion at work, are stressful because they require change or adaptation. As the majority of people are looking for order, continuity and predictable events in their lives, any event that involves a change will be experienced as stressful.

Much of the stress comes from trivialities, defined as small annoyances, irritations and frustrations. The important events of life often trigger the minutiae that give rise to stress. Pressure also contributes to stress. The pressure may arise from forces that can be internal and external; in any case, we are forced to intensify our efforts to achieve higher levels of performance, which of course, leads to stress. People usually try to escape such situations or vacillates between other possibilities.        

There are at least two paths by which psychological stress leads or induces to some diseases. First, when people experience stress, the heart, the lungs, the nervous system and other physiological systems are forced to work harder. The human body is not designed to work at high speed, or to be exposed to powerful biological changes like being in mobilization for long periods. When the stress is prolonged is more likely that people will experience some kind of physical disorder. Secondly, stress has a powerful negative effect on the body’s immune system, and prolonged stress can undermine the body's ability to defend itself from disease. Indirectly, the stress can lead to unhealthy behaviors (such as smoking, drinking alcohol, overeating or skipping meals and not exercising or not getting enough sleep), as well as to avoid checks and medical examinations, or stop taking medications or other recommended treatments.

Whichever is the source of stress, it requires that we face it.  To be able to manage we need to make behavioral and cognitive efforts to handle the psychological stress. Psychologists distinguish between two broad types of coping: direct coping and defensive coping. Direct coping refers to the intentional efforts we can make to change an uncomfortable situation; it tends to be the problem-oriented and has its focus on the immediate problem. For example, when our needs or desires are frustrated, we can try to remove the barriers between us and our goals, or we can step down. Similarly, when we are threatened, we can try to eliminate the source of the threat, either by attacking it or escaping from it. In contrast, defensive coping refers to various forms of self-deception that provide a means to protect our self-esteem and reduce stress. Defensive coping tends to focus on the emotion and concentrates on our mental state.

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