b) psychological and behavioural problems, including anxiety, insomnia, drug use, depression, sleep problems, and nutritional abnormalities;
c) physiological problems, including pain of any kind, migraines, digestive problems, diabetes, obesity, asthma, flu, cardiovascular diseases, skin conditions such as eczema, autoimmune syndromes etc.
Excessive stress can affect performance levels (causing low productivity or even accidents). Chronic stress can lead to fatigue and burnout (emotional and physical exhaustion).
Exposure to traumatic events such as earthquakes, war, and rape can cause post-traumatic disorder, a severe anxiety disorder with symptoms that include traumatic flashback memories, night terrors, depression, etc.
However, stress can also have positive effects. For example, it can serve as a stimulus and a driver for personal development, self-improvement, and goal achievement. It can also preventatively “vaccinate” the individual with the ability to deal with similar situations in the future.
The good news is that stress management strategies can be taught and have satisfactory results (Rowe, 2000). Two ports for intervention include our perception of an event and our responses to any stressful situation.
Stress arrives … serenity departs.
Stress and heart disease
The secretion of corticoids (during the first stage of adaptation described earlier) increases heart rate and cardiovascular pressure, which if intense and prolonged, may in turn lead to hypertension, atherosclerotic plaques, and coronary artery problems. Severe responses to stress can cause heart attacks in people with heart disease (Kamarck & Jennings, 1991). Even “innocent” exam stress increases cholesterol levels.
The longer lasting and more intense the stress, the higher the levels of secreted hormones, and the potential for damage to the cardiovascular system. Emotional and physical exhaustion leads to fatigue, that, in turn, increases the possibility of cardiovascular problems (Krantz et al., 2000).
In short, to protect your heart and reduce hypertension and blood cholesterol levels, doctors recommend smoking cessation, weight control, attention to nutrition, physical activity, relaxation, etc. But you already know this …
Stress and cancer
Given that stress affects the onset and, possibly the course of a disease, it is only natural to wonder how, if at all, stress affects the course of cancer.24 The reality is that stress can both directly and indirectly affect the course of illness, including cancer.
Indirectly, stress often leads to unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, drinking, and unhealthy diets. It can also reduce the number of lymphocytes that destroy malignant cells, because of the reduced production of interferon (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 1986, 2002).
Despite the above, stress is not guilty of turning healthy cells into cancerous ones. Some research refutes the connection between stress and cancer. A longitudinal (1965-1982) study with 6,848 participants showed no connection between depression and cancer (Kaplan & Reynolds, 1988).
Findings of other studies show that individuals with a “fighting spirit” have a greater survival rate than passive individuals who confront the disease with “stoic acceptance” or “helplessness / hopelessness” (Pettingale et al., 1985).
Stress and headaches
The most common causes of headaches and migraines are muscle tension and arterial stenosis. These symptoms also accompany stress.
Even if there is a different causality, headaches can intensify and regress if there is tension in the muscle groups around the neck and shoulder blades. Massage and relaxation techniques can effectively help control stress and stress-related headaches.
Stress and ulcers
Ten percent of the people around us suffer from ulcers. Until recently, we thought that ulcers were caused by stress, hence the saying “ulcers are not so much the result of what you are eating, but what’s eating you.” Today, we know that 60 percent of all peptic ulcers are caused by a bacterial (Helicobacter pylori) infection. By the way, smoking has also been associated to the disease.
In cases of chronic stress, levels of hydrochloric acid in the stomach are often elevated. Combined with the corticoids secreted during the alarm stage of stress, they could contribute to gastric problems.
This was a very brief reference to the potential effects of stress. Our next topic is personality. We all know people who rarely get stressed and others who get stressed by everything or are constantly stressed. Which category do you belong in?
Chapter 4: Stress and personality
It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease, rather than know what sort of disease a person has. – Hippocrates
ACCORDING TO Aaron Beck, anxious individuals often have unrealistic fears and fight against imaginary problems. Specifically, they tend to:
a) Overrate the possibility of something bad happening to them, focus on potential negative scenarios, and worry about things that could happen to them in the future (e.g., “what if an airplane crashes on my house?”).
b) Overestimate the significance of an event (e.g., “if I do not get into university, my parents won’t love me; if they do not love me, I am worthless”).
c) Underestimate their ability to deal with events (e.g., “everything is predestined; it’s written in the stars and I am a Pisces, what do you expect from a minnow – or a … sardine”).
d) Underrate the possibility of support from their social environment (e.g., “no will ever help me” I do not have any friends …”).
Are these types of thought patterns “nurtured” and acquired or are they the result of biologically determined personality traits that predispose people to think in a certain way?
The issue of nature versus nurture has not been resolved yet. However, experts believe that the influence of genes and environment is usually about 50-50.
Are there certain personality traits useful in dealing with stress? Are some people better equipped to deal with stress?
The answer is yes. Certain individuals are genetically privileged and can endure more stress. The personality traits believed to buffer stress include explanatory style, self-efficacy, psychological hardiness, locus of control, sensation seeking, autonomic nervous system responses, and Type-A behaviour.
Explanatory style
Explanatory style refers to the way we explain events that happen to us in life (Seligman, 1989). It consists of three dimensions: internal – external, stable – unstable, and global – specific.
When faced with a negative event, such as a failure, individuals with a pessimistic explanatory style consider it:
a) Personal. They attribute the poor outcome to internal causes (e.g., “it was all my fault”).
b) Pervasive. They tend to generalize, thinking it will affect all areas in their life (e.g., “I failed Math; therefore, I am a failure in everything”).
c) Permanent. They consider it unchangeable (e.g., “this is how things will be in the future”).
Such attributions result in chronic negative feelings and, often, in low self-esteem, melancholy, and depression.
On the contrary, people with an optimistic explanatory style facing a negative event:
a) Attribute it to external and unanticipated factors (e.g., “the exam was difficult”), and expect better outcomes over future events.
b) Consider their failure