Stress

The fast pace of life, interpersonal relationships, long-term education, business competition, the struggle for power, social status or sheer survival are a constant source of stress. The consequences of not resolving stress unfold (and most often occur in this order) from poor health through broken marriages and job loss, to premature death. Fortunately, modern psychological approaches to managing stress are highly effective and scientifically proven.

What is stress?

A stressful event, or stressor, is defined as an event that a person perceives as threatening or dangerous to something that matters to them, or as an event they believe may change the course of their life. A stressor is also a demand that a person cannot meet.

Stress is an internal, subjective, or intrapsychic state that is a reaction to a stressor, that is, a stressful event. Stress is defined as a state of mobilization of the psychophysical subsystems of the organism. There are two categories of stress states: the state of acute stress and the state of chronic stress.

Two categories of stress

The state of acute stress is characterized by the experience of emotional suffering. The person is aware of their “nervousness,” agitation, sadness, depression, anger toward themselves and others, excessive use of alcohol, cigarettes or coffee, poor concentration, distractedness, forgetfulness, being “obsessed” with the same thoughts, and worry about their mental state. All of this negatively affects quality of life, relationships with people and sleep, and leads to an intensification of the stress state because – all of these are new stressors. If the person does not free themselves from the state of acute stress in time, it develops into the state of chronic stress.

Unlike the state of acute stress, the state of chronic stress is characterized by the absence of the experience of emotional suffering, and this is the essential difference between the state of acute stress and the state of chronic stress. This state arises as the person gradually develops tolerance to the manifestations of acute stress and gets used to them, ignoring or denying them. Since this process drains the energy of the personality, the person increasingly emotionally distances themselves from other people, avoids intimate social contacts and intimate sexual relationships, and finds it increasingly hard to find pleasure in everyday activities in the present, focusing instead on goals in the future. The typical thought of a person in a state of chronic stress is: “Once I finish just this…”

A person in the state of chronic stress is recognized above all by compulsive work; compulsive means driven: the person must constantly be active, busy with something, and cannot relax – possibly with the use of alcohol, drugs, self-initiated use of tranquilizers, or through “mechanical” sex, but over time they develop tolerance to all of this too.

In addition to compulsive work, which is the most pronounced and conspicuous manifestation of the state of chronic stress, there are fatigue, chronic lack of time, lack of motivation, cynicism, negativity, irritability and excessive criticism of others, impulsive behavior, insomnia, compulsively dwelling on work problems outside working hours, and prolonged recovery from illness – even from harmless ones such as a cold. Such a state ultimately leads to physical collapse (intense pain, tremor, weakness, fainting, pseudoepileptic seizures).

The cost of not knowing and ignoring the signals of stress

Although the state of acute stress is the body's signal that “something is happening,” and the state of chronic stress that “danger is at the door,” a person, due to not knowing and ignoring the signals of stress, continues with the same patterns of behavior and lifestyle. Sometimes people suffering from chronic stress experience several physical collapses (damaging certain neurological functions or organs in the body) before they seek professional help.

A person suffering from chronic stress typically first seeks medical help for somatic complaints (hypertension, headaches, pain and stiffness in the neck and back, tension in the abdominal area). After numerous medical tests (CT, ECG, etc.), various diagnoses and treatments, it is usually established that there is no direct organic cause of the physical complaints, and the person eventually turns to psychological help.

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In short, in the state of acute stress a person experiences suffering, primarily of an emotional nature, while in a developed state of chronic stress a person gets used to the manifestations of stress and does not perceive them as a problem, but develops numerous somatic symptoms. The manifestations of the stress state continue to “ring all the bells” SLOW DOWN! REST! RELAX!, but since a person in the state of chronic stress no longer experiences personal suffering and ignores the tension, over time general physical exhaustion sets in, and ultimately the collapse of the organism.

A growing number of people in the modern world, due to not knowing and ignoring the signals of stress, endure psychophysical complaints for a long period, damaging certain neurological functions or organs in the body.

Stress management involves learning and acquiring rational-emotive and cognitive-behavioral skills for recognizing states of stress and managing one's own life despite the stressors we constantly encounter, by controlling and reducing the influence of stressors. Skills learned through adequate rational-emotive and cognitive-behavioral treatment enable a person to effectively cope with difficult situations with the aim of feeling better and regaining a sense of control over their life.