The concept of “stress” is familiar to almost every modern person, but its manifestations and consequences are much deeper and more serious than many can imagine. There are many forms and types of stress - for example, positive (eustress) and negative (distress). That is, the first arises against the background of positive emotions, the second - against the background of negative ones. Stress produces symptoms such as restlessness, anxiety, sleep disturbances and emotional tension. All this leads to discomfort and disruption of the patient’s usual rhythm of life. To combat the effects of stress, various methods of psychotherapy and drug therapy are used.
One of the most common types of affect these days is stress. In modern life, stress plays a significant role. They affect a person’s behavior, performance, health, relationships with others and in the family. Stress is a state of excessively strong and prolonged psychological tension that occurs in a person when his nervous system receives emotional overload. The most widely used definition is the following:
“Stress is a tense state of the human body, both physical and mental.” Stress is present in the life of every person since the presence of stressful impulses in all spheres of human life and activity is undeniable.
Any event, fact or message can cause stress, that is, become a stressor. Stressors can be a wide variety of factors: microbes and viruses, various poisons, high or low ambient temperature, trauma. But it turns out that the same stressors can be any emotional factors, that is, factors influencing the emotional sphere of a person. This is everything that can excite us: misfortune, a rude word, an undeserved insult, a sudden obstacle to our actions or aspirations. At the same time, whether this or that situation will be a cause of stress or not depends not only on the situation itself, but also on the individual, her experience, expectations, and self-confidence. Of particular importance, of course, is the assessment of the threat, the anticipation of the dangerous consequences that the situation contains.
This means that the very occurrence and experience of stress depends not so much on objective as on subjective factors, on the characteristics of the person himself: his assessment of the situation, comparison of his strengths and abilities with what is required of him.
Stressful situations surround a person in his daily life - at work, at home, among friends, in public places we can be exposed to stress. What matters is how the person himself relates to a particular situation and reacts to it. If one can easily offend another person and, after listening to a stream of insults in response, safely forget about it, then the other person will have a hard time experiencing every word his opponent says.
You can recognize the experience of stress by the following signs:
• substance abuse (alcohol or drugs) to relieve stress;
• insomnia or restless sleep;
• headache, tension;
• nervousness;
• inability to relax;
• motor restlessness (need to walk, twirl objects in hands, bite nails);
• sad state;
• frequent tears;
• nervous tic;
• cognitive impairment, inability to concentrate.
Stress is pressure, tension, and distress is grief, unhappiness, malaise, need. According to G. Selye, stress is a nonspecific (that is, the same to different influences) response of the body to any demand presented to it, which helps it adapt to the difficulty that has arisen and cope with it. Any surprise that disrupts the usual course of life can cause stress. At the same time, as G. Selye notes, it does not matter whether the situation we are faced with is pleasant or unpleasant. All that matters is the intensity of the need for restructuring or adaptation. As an example, the scientist cites an exciting situation: a mother, who was informed about the death of her only son in battle, experiences terrible mental shock. If, many years later, it turns out that the message was false and the son suddenly enters the room unharmed, she will feel intense joy.
The multidimensionality of the phenomenon of stress in humans is so great that it was necessary to develop a whole typology of its manifestations. Currently, it is customary to divide stress into two main types: systemic (physiological) and mental. Since a person is a social being and the mental sphere plays a leading role in the activity of his integral systems, it is often mental stress that turns out to be the most significant for the regulation process.
The specific results of the two events - grief and joy - are completely different, even opposite, but their stressful effect - the nonspecific demand for adaptation to a new situation - may be the same.
Currently, scientists distinguish between eustress (positive stress, which is combined with a desired effect and mobilizes the body) and distress (negative stress with an undesirable harmful effect). With eustress, cognitive processes and processes of self-awareness, comprehension of reality, and memory are activated. Distress that occurs in one environment tends to spread to all areas of activity like a chain reaction. Let us briefly define these areas.
Intrapersonal stress. Most of our demands on the outside world and its impact on us are associated with this type of stress. This area is like a centrifugal force that influences all areas of our lives. If we are not at peace with ourselves, then our inner turmoil and experience manifests itself in a negative attitude, impacts on the outside world and disrupts interpersonal relationships. This category of stress includes events such as unfulfilled expectations, unfulfilled needs, meaninglessness and purposelessness of actions, painful memories, and inadequate assessment of events.
Interpersonal stress. Since each person has to constantly solve various social issues in his activities, interaction with other persons and its assessment have a significant impact on our perception, experience, attitude to events and are problems of relationships between people.
Personal stress has to do with what an individual does and what happens to him when he does not perform or violate certain prescribed social roles, such as the role of parent, husband, employee. It manifests itself in connection with such phenomena as poor health, bad habits, sexual difficulties, boredom, aging, and retirement.
Family stress includes all the difficulties in maintaining a family and relationships in it - housework, marital problems, conflicts between generations, living with young people, illness and death in the family, alcoholism, divorce.
Work stress is typically associated with heavy workload, lack of self-control over work performance, role ambiguity, and role conflict. Poor job security, unfair job evaluations, and disruption to job organization can become a source of stress.
Social stress refers to problems experienced by large groups of people - for example, economic recession, poverty, bankruptcy, racial tension and discrimination.
Environmental stress is caused by exposure to extreme environmental conditions, the expectation of such exposure or its consequences - air and water pollution, harsh weather conditions, unfriendly neighbors, crowding, high noise levels.
Financial stress is self-explanatory. The inability to pay bills, failure to provide income for expenses, difficulties in obtaining debt, the discrepancy between the salary level and the results of work, the occurrence of additional and financially unsecured expenses, these and other circumstances can cause stress.
Stress can sometimes be quite difficult to define since each person develops their own reactions to stressful situations. However, under stress, adrenaline is always produced - it is this hormone that makes you react sharply to sources of irritation and be collected and attentive to decide in an emergency situation.
However, constantly being in a stressful situation is not beneficial for the body. Over time, adrenaline reserves are depleted, the immune system becomes much weaker, which provokes the occurrence of various diseases.
Despite so many types of stress, the symptoms are almost the same. The fact is that any stress affects the body in the same way: it forces all systems to work in an enhanced mode, mobilizing physical and psychological resources. If a stressful situation continues for a long time, it begins to negatively affect the psychological and physical state of the patient, and then we are talking about chronic stress.
Specifically, symptoms of chronic stress include:
• the appearance of malfunctions in the gastrointestinal tract;
• the appearance of pain of varying degrees and localization: usually they are psychosomatic in nature;
• decreased libido;
• frequent occurrence of colds;
• appearance of chest pain;
• cardiopalmus.
Also, patients often develop headaches – migraines – in a stressful situation.
Stressful situations affect everyone differently. The experience of chronic stress manifests itself differently in different population groups.
Stress in children. Childhood stress is caused by various factors. Most often they arise due to the incorrect attitude of parents or other loved ones, as well as other children towards the child. Stress in children is characterized by the appearance of various fears that make the child nervous and worried. Enuresis, sleep problems, screams in sleep, nightmares, dizziness may also appear, and sometimes dermatological problems due to nervousness may occur.
Stress in women. Women experience all emotions much more vividly than men. During stressful situations, women may experience bouts of hysterical laughter, lethargy, apathy, self-esteem may suffer, pain in various parts of the body may appear (often in the back, migraines also occur), irritability and fatigue.
Stress in men. Men always try to endure all life's difficulties steadfastly, without complaining about anything. They stubbornly “hush up” stress, which ultimately results in several health problems. Men experience insomnia, disruptions in the gastrointestinal tract, chest pain, irritation, and aggression. Also, sexual activity often decreases. All this clearly does not contribute to men's health, and over time results in more serious problems.
Our clinic in Israel uses the most modern and effective methods of treating stress. We put into practice:
• consultations with a psychiatrist to prescribe medication if necessary and supervise the treatment process;
• intensive psychotherapy (cognitive-behavioral, dynamic, or supportive - the type of psychotherapy is selected individually);
• Auxiliary psychotherapeutic techniques, such as biofeedback, hippotherapy, music therapy, art therapy, sports therapy, hydrotherapy and other types of therapy;
• consultations with a psychologist.
All these techniques allow patients to work through stressful situations and their reactions to them, learn relaxation methods, express their feelings, fears, experiences, and emotions, and restore mental and physical health.
For drug treatment, the latest generation antidepressants are used in combination with various psychotherapy techniques described above.
Prevention of stress consists of training in special programs that help convey to the patient the specifics of stress reactions, explain the mechanism of stress and its effect on the body. The programs are based on psychotherapeutic training designed to identify “vulnerable spots” in the psyche that fail when stressful situations arise, search for the causes of breakdown of the protective mechanisms of the psyche or the formation of pathological protective mechanisms, and work through them.
Stress prevention also involves periodic communication with a healthcare professional to prevent breakdowns or the development of a more serious somatic or psychological disorder. A detailed description of the condition, as well as information about the difficulties the patient faces, helps the doctor give the right recommendations for overcoming stressful situations and drug therapy if necessary.
Learning stress management skills is essential for mental health. A stressful situation that is not dealt with in a timely manner can lead to more serious consequences for the psyche - the development of psychosis, severe depressive disorder, somatic manifestations, hallucinations, or delusional disorder.