Antidepressants Blog

MORE ABOUT STRESS IN OUR LIFE

Matters such as high interest rates, an impossible boss at work, a drunken husband, an unexpected pregnancy, trouble with the tax authorities, children on drugs, caught .05 and awaiting trial, an unfaithful spouse, sick children, or chronic illness of oneself, are not stress.

Stress is the disparity between the problem and the person’s ability to cope with it. So for some women an unfaithful husband is no stress at all; whilst for others it is a devastating stress.

Physiologically, stress is the disharmony of brain function which arises when more impulses are arriving in our brain from our problems than can be properly integrated.

The disharmony of brain function produces an over-alertness of nerve cells which is manifested as anxiety.

Anxiety produces nervous tension with various psychoneurotic and psychosomatic symptoms.

Obvious conditions are palpitations, butterflies in the stomach, shakiness, sweating and stiffness in muscles.

Less obvious conditions are asthma, ulcers and many cases of high blood pressure.

Stress is often fired off by some major problem. But the major problem always operates on a background of minor and incidental problems.

So a woman who has been able to cope with a sick child all day may suffer stress if her husband comes home and blows up because he has had a bad day at work. The two things together may be too much for her coping ability. On the other hand, if he gives his wife some help, all is well.

Then, of course, there are many long-acting problems— a child, not sick, but always wanting to avoid school; the children having friends who are taking drugs; poor communication in the marriage. Not big things in themselves, but they can add up and so cause stress.

The disturbing nervous impulses from different problems are cumulative, so that a reduction of nervous impulses from one problem may mean that the impulses from the major problem do not reach sufficient intensity to produce stress.

Most of our problems cannot be avoided or ameliorated. So how do we avoid stress?

We can make a second-class journey through life on tranquillizers. Tranquillizers work by dulling the activity of nerve cells; reducing our alertness, ability to think, and perception of the full beauty around us.

Or we can also avoid stress by trying to minimize our tasks and problems. Avoid trouble. Get an easy job. Avoid responsibility. Avoid active competition. Retreat from the active hurly-burly of life. Become a vegetable.

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Related Posts:

• THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PAIN: CONCLUSION
• STRESS AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE
• NERVOUS DIARRHEA AS BODILY SYMPTOM OF STRESS