Stress Disorders- Definition and Perspectives

Stress

Dee has a lot of pressure on her. She’s a busy single mom, works as an executive assistant for a very demanding boss, and she’s going to school at night. To say she’s stressed is an understatement! But lately, things have gotten worse. She has really bad headaches and though she’s always had asthma, lately her breathing is worse than normal. Not only that, but she’s so tense that sometimes she struggles to even leave her house.

Everything going on in Dee’s life is causing her stress , or strain or tension caused by an event or circumstances. There are two types of stress. Mental stress can be caused by emotional pressures, like a fight with a friend. Physical stress, on the other hand, occurs when your physical body is healing, like when you’re sick or have just had surgery. Both mental and physical stress can have both mental and physical effects. For example, Dee’s mental stress from her life has caused her physical symptoms, like headaches and making her asthma worse.

Psychologists and other mental health practitioners study the psychological causes and effects of stress, including stress disorders like acute stress disorder and psychophysiological stress disorders. Stress disorders are psychological disorders that involve reactions to stress in a person’s life. Let’s look a little closer at the different ways that people react to stress and some ways that the impact of stress can be reduced.

Approaches to Stress

You know those cartoons of a stressed-out character? They often show frizzy hair, bloodshot eyes and a hyped up demeanor. But, is that really what people are like when they’re under stress? Well, yes and no. People respond to stress in different ways. To help understand the three most common ways that people respond to stress, some psychologists use the analogy of someone driving. When faced with pressure in their lives, people either:

Put their foot on the gas by becoming agitated and hyper

Put their foot on the brake by becoming withdrawn and depressed, or

Put their foot on both by becoming frozen and tense

Remember Dee? She’s having trouble leaving her house because she’s so stressed out. All she wants to do is stay in bed and ignore the world. She has her foot on the brake. She is withdrawing from the world and feeling depressed.

But what if, instead of withdrawing, she became keyed up? For example, maybe she has trouble sitting still and reacts to other people with anger or frustration. This would be an example of Dee having her foot on the gas.

Finally, imagine that Dee faces stress with a stillness that looks like she’s withdrawing, but she’s really feeling very anxious and agitated underneath the surface. Imagine a deer in headlights, its body still with shock but its heart pounding. If this is the type of reaction that Dee has to stress, then her foot is on both the gas and the brake.

Because people respond to stress differently, it’s important not to assume that someone is not feeling stress just because they don’t look on the surface like they’re stressed out. Instead, psychologists must listen to their patients in order to understand the problems they face and the emotions they are feeling.

Managing Stress

Everyone feels tense at some point in his or her life. Whether it’s the stress of a new job, or losing a loved one or even just the physical stress of a hard workout, at some point, we all have to deal with stress.

Positive psychology is the study of what makes people psychologically healthy and happy. Whereas most psychology studies the negative abnormalities of mental health, such as psychological disorders, positive psychology studies the positive abnormalities of mental health, such as what the happiest people do.

Some studies in positive psychology have examined people who are particularly resilient. These studies have found a few things that people can do to help them manage the stress in their lives. There are many things that help people reduce the impact of stress. A few include:

Having a strong support network of family and friends to help you get through tough times.

Cultivating an optimistic outlook and believing that things will get better. This is sometimes tied to religious faith.

Moderate physical activity also helps people deal with stress. Partly, this is because exercise helps fight off insomnia, and getting enough sleep is another thing that helps with stress.

Finally, meditation can help relax people and lessen the impact of stress on the body and mind.

Lesson Summary

Stress disorders are psychological disorders characterized by a reaction to stress. People react to stress in different ways, including becoming agitated, becoming withdrawn or becoming frozen and tense. Psychologists have found several things that help people manage stress in their lives, including having a strong support system and an optimistic outlook, engaging in physical activity, getting enough sleep and meditating.