Which stress do you suffer from? And is it making you ill?

Research has shown that there are types of stress that can cause different personality traits, physical symptoms and occur at various durations.

Acute Stress

Is the most common form of stress, it comes from demands and pressures of recent events, past events and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. Acute stress is thrilling and exciting in small doses, but too much is exhausting.

It is short term and doesn't have enough time to do the extensive damage associated with long-term stress.

The most common symptoms are:

Emotional distress — a combination of anger or irritability, anxiety and depression (the three stress emotions).

Muscular problems including tension headache, back pain, jaw pain and the muscular tensions that lead to pulled muscles and tendon and ligament problems.

Stomach, gut and bowel problems such as heartburn, acid stomach, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.

Acute stress can crop up in anyone's life, and it is highly treatable and manageable.

Episodic Acute Stress

Some people suffer acute stress frequently, their lives are so disordered that they are always in chaos and crisis. They're always in a rush, but always late. If something can go wrong, it does. They take on too much and can't organise the invasion of self-inflicted demands and pressures clamoring for attention. They seem perpetually in the clutches of acute stress.

It is common for people with acute stress to be short-tempered, irritable, anxious and tense. They may have symptoms in extended sustained stress such as persistent tension headaches, migraines, hypertension, chest pain and heart disease.

Often, they describe themselves as having "a lot of nervous energy."

Always in a hurry, they tend to be abrupt, and sometimes their irritability comes across as hostility.

Another form of episodic acute stress comes from ceaseless worry.

"Worry warts" see disaster around every corner and pessimistically forecast catastrophe in every situation.

Chronic stress

This is the grinding stress that wears people away day after day, year after year.

Chronic stress destroys bodies, minds and lives. It wreaks havoc through long-term attrition.

It's the stress of poverty, of dysfunctional families, of being trapped in an unhappy marriage or in a despised job or career.

Chronic stress comes when a person

"never sees a way out of a miserable situation." 

It's the stress of unrelenting demands and pressures for seemingly interminable periods of time. With no hope, the individual gives up searching for solutions.

Some chronic stresses stem from traumatic, early childhood experiences that become internalised and remain forever painful and present. Some experiences deeply affect personality. A view of the world is created that causes unending stress for the individual

e.g., “the world is a threatening place”, 

“people will find out I am a pretender”, 

“I must be perfect at all times”.

Recovery requires active self-examination, often with professional help.

The worst aspect of chronic stress is that people get used to it...They forget it's there. 

People are immediately aware of acute stress because it is new; they ignore chronic stress because it is old, familiar, and sometimes, almost comfortable.

Chronic stress kills through suicide, violence, heart attack, stroke and perhaps even cancer.

The sufferer may require extended medical as well as behavioural treatment and stress management.

Reference Book: ‪The Stress Solution: An Action Plan to Manage the Stress in Your Life. ‪Lyle H. Miller‪, Alma Dell Smith, Ph.D., Larry Rothstein

If you or someone you know is in need of counselling in the Southend-on-Sea area, don’t hesitate to contact me by clicking here... Take care, Sam