Types of stress, its causes and stages

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

In the modern world, a person often encounters situations that make him worry, nervous, angry or feel powerless. Against the background of the prolonged action of such emotions, stress often appears, which can not only have a negative impact on the emotional background, but also cause serious harm to he alth. Most of all goes to the heart and nervous system. To understand how to protect your he alth, you need to understand the types and causes of stress and how to deal with it.

What is stress?

Translated from English, "stress" means "tension, pressure, pressure." The first hypothesis about its existence was expressed by the physiologist G. Selye. Through his research, he was able to prove that the cause of the symptoms of many diseases does not lie in the diseases themselves.

Any external influence on the human body causes its reaction. Stress works the same way. It makes itself felt with nervous exhaustion, against the background of fatigue or with strong emotional experiences. Everyone is subject to it. Howeverit cannot be said that such a state is entirely negative. Stress "in small doses" can spur a person to make decisions and take action. Constant stress, on the contrary, exhausts him and makes him unable to take control of the situation, in addition, the forces of the nervous system are running out, and this entails a lot of unpleasant consequences. Stressed people become lethargic, lethargic, sometimes rude, and their ability to absorb new information is blunted.

Stress stages

We will dwell on the types of this reaction of the body a little later, but for now let's talk about the mechanism of its development.

The state of stress in a person develops gradually. The process can take from several days to several years.

G. Selye identified three stages of stress:

1. Anxiety immediately after the appearance of external stimuli. Excitement leads to the activation of the body's defenses. Feelings work in full force, but it does not last long.
2. Manifestation of a reaction of resistance that divides people into two types. The former come to grips with the situation and try to solve the problem, while the latter try to adapt and do everything possible so that new external factors become commonplace.
3. The manifestation of a reaction to victory or loss occurs individually. If a person is not able to withstand difficulties and could not adapt to them, his he alth deteriorates.

Varieties of stress

With the development of psychology G. Selye expanded the concept of stress somewhat. It is difficult to list the types of stresses and their features - everything, how many there are, but it is possible to classify according to certain parameters.

According to the consequences of influence on the human body, they distinguish:

1. Distress

This species appears spontaneously and fatally affects the nervous system. Its cause is constant overstrain, which subsequently results in serious emotional problems and leads to a deterioration in physical he alth. The nature of the occurrence depends on the circumstances.

2. Eustress

This type is characterized by a slight effect on the nervous system. It contributes to the activation of logical thinking and therefore is more positive. A person under its influence clearly sees the surrounding picture of the world and is able to make clear, balanced decisions. His body and brain go into a state of combat readiness thanks to the release of adrenaline, which is completely normal and happens to people every day.

Considering the types of stress in psychology, we should also refer to other classifications.

Positive and negative

In everyone's life, good and bad things happen. Positive stress (like a big win in the lottery or an aging we althy relative suddenly showing up) leads to a positive attitude and has a beneficial effect on the body, immunity, and even appearance.

At the same time, negative stress (for example, experiencing the death of a close relative or the breakup of a relationship) can knock you out for a long timeout of a rut and undermine he alth.

It is important to note that in both cases there is a strong impact on the cardiovascular system, whether it is a millionth lottery win or the death of a loved one. The body is under severe stress from both bad and good news.

By exposure time

According to this classification, there are two types of stress: long-term or short-term.

The acute, or transient, form people experience every day. Any events of the external world are reflected in the mental state. Such stress goes through all stages of development in a short period of time. The worst manifestation of it is shock.

The big problem with this kind of stress is that there are memories of it.

Long-term stress can occur without an acute stage. If a person is constantly subject to emotional stress and has even become accustomed to it, sooner or later this will lead to neurosis and a nervous breakdown. To some extent it depends on the level of psychological resistance.

Physiological and psychological stress

The most understandable and simple are physiological stresses:

• mechanical - bodily injury and damage to internal organs, operations, pain shock;
• physical - heat, cold, abrupt change of position in space, weightlessness;
• biological - diseases, toxins, the presence of fungi, bacteria in the body;
• chemical - chemical poisoning, excess carbon dioxide, lack of oxygen, and so on.

Psychological stress isa peculiar reaction of the body to the features of the interaction of the individual with the outside world. This is a more complex condition that requires analysis of the significance of a particular situation.

The following types of psychological stress are distinguished:

• Emotional - appears because of the feelings inherent in every person. The strongest emotion is fear, followed by anger, resentment, powerlessness.
• Informational - appears as a result of an excess of news or because of worries about one's duties and promises. Often its cause is the fear that some personal secret of a person will be revealed.

There are other types of stress

Financial

Money plays a huge role in the life of each of us. They are used to buy food, necessary things and household items, they pay bills, entertainment and much more. Getting into a situation where expenses exceed income, people begin to experience stress. It can also be caused by unexpected expenses, a decrease in wages, the inability to get a loan.

Intrapersonal

Such stress appears due to the disharmony of a person with himself. Unfulfilled dreams and hopes, unfulfilled needs lead to it. Internal discontent and feelings begin to manifest as irritability, so stress develops.

Public

This type of stress is almost impossible to avoid, since each individual lives in society, which means that they face the problems of thissociety. Among the main reasons for its appearance are economic, political and others.

Ecological

He alth directly depends on the environment. Noise, environmental pollution, exposure to chemicals adversely affect the body. All of these reasons, plus the expectation of adverse impacts, lead to environmental stress.

Working

The desire to build a career, combined with a long absence of a positive result or just a high workload, causes chronic fatigue and negative emotions. Often this stress comes from unfair job evaluations, poor job security, or role ambiguity.

Based on the previous classification, the following types of occupational stress can be distinguished:

• informational - appears as a result of information overload, when a person cannot make an important decision within a rigidly set time limit;
• emotional - occurs due to conflicts with colleagues and management;
• communicative - expressed in the problem of communication with the team, the inability to refuse where necessary, and the inability to protect oneself from attacks.

Main causes of stress

Common causes of various types of stress include:

• emergency, man-made, natural and social situations;
• economic and political situation in the country;
• diseases;
• living conditions;
• cognitive dissonance and psychological defense mechanisms;
• interaction with people;
• the position of a person in society;
• features of a person's character:
• life hardships (divorce, loss, debts, change of circumstances that cannot be influenced);
• difficulties at work (pay levels, disagreements with colleagues, etc.) that hinder normal productivity.

Instead of afterword

Despite the fact that most of the main types of stress accompany us all our lives, we must learn to resist them. Depression and psychological disorders depress physical and mental he alth. If you know the ways in which stress is affected and its principles, you can independently develop tactics for dealing with it. But do not forget that stress can be useful, promoting mental activity and training stress resistance.