Stress Essay Research Paper stress

Stress Essay, Research Paper

stress

Psychological stress is a result of many factors and should be dealt with very carefully. Stress can be defined as a set of interactions between the person and the environment that result in an unpleasant emotional state, such as anxiety, tension, guilt, or shame (swin pg 1). Another way of putting it, is that there are somethings that put certain demands on us. The effects of stress should not be limited to unpleasant emotional states. Many studies have concluded that the effects on our physical health from stress can be extremely detrimental. These adverse physical effects include heart disease and formations of cancer. There are also some societal issues that psychological stress can hamper.

There are numerous elements that trigger the effects of psychological stress. Frustration is one of these elements that will trigger stress. Frustration is one of the most prevalent sources of stress in my life at this moment. A lot of different events will cause frustration. Frustration occurs from something blocking our attainment of certain goals or needs (Corey 207). All of the little things that frustrate us include waiting in lines or traffic, sense of failure or inadequacies, bad relationships, deaths, and loneliness. Self-defeating thoughts are a way in which we almost deliberately block attainment of our needs. If in our heads, we have this preconceived notion that we are incapable of obtaining something that we want or that others could not possibly love us, we create a self-fulfilling prophecy. I used the word “deliberately” in describing self-doubt because we have the ability to change these misinformed thoughts.

Major life changes whether it be positive or negative can lead to very stressful situations. In our society, many people fall into a rut of everyday life and fear change to their daily routines. When any kind of change occurs it is very traumatic. There are many changes in ones career that can cause stress. Starting a new career or getting a new job is a major change that will produce stress. The feeling of being accepted in the organization and learning the companies ways of doing things are stressful. Other changes in one’s life resulting in stress include a change in a personal relationship or financial changes. You might think that hitting the lottery and being a multi-millionaire would relieve any possible stress in one’s life. That fact is that it is a major change and you are going to have many different issues that you never had before. There are issues of what to do with the money and how to invest it.

Pressures that are brought about in our society are imposed by ourselves and by others. If one has too high of expectations for oneself it is inevitable that they will burn themselves out. These expectations are derived out of our gender roles as men. Men are thought of in our society to be the provider of money and security to their families. It is one way we measure or “manlyhood”. Unrealistic pressures such as this, and pressures from school, work and social life will lead to high levels of stress.

Conflict happens when two or more incompatible motivations or behavioral impulses compete for expression. There are three classifications of conflict; approach/approach, avoidance/avoidance, approach/avoidance. Approach/approach conflicts occur when we have two attractive options from which we have to chose. This can happen when we have two group of friends going out for New Year’s Eve, both with exciting plans. It is tough to decide which group of friends you want to hang out with. Avoidance/avoidance is the opposite of approach/approach. When you have to decide between two unattractive choices or goals, stress sets in. This has occurred to me this past month or so in deciding what I am going to take for my accounting elective. All of my options are very unappealing. Decisions may arise where both objects that you are to chose from have both attractive and unattractive components. This type of conflict can be categorized as approach/avoidance conflict. An example of this type could be in finding a house. If you have found the house of your dreams for an amazingly low price but it is very far away from your place of employment, you have approach/avoidance conflict (Corey pg. 207-208).

Other sources of stress include ambiguity in a certain situation. If you are unsure of what to do or how to act in a situation it can cause stress. If you get into a fight with someone it can cause stress. Contradictions to your value systems can produce some unwanted stress.

I have never before in my life been under so much stress that it has caused serious questions of hopelessness. Throughout my entire life, I have been very good with coping with stressful situations, but something happened on October 12 that will change my life forever. A couple of policeman came to my door with a complaint. Apparently, a friend of mine and I had been accused of a crime that we did not commit. The threat that we could possibly get expelled from school or even worse get put in jail for a very long time comes with a very high level of stress. The investigation has been going on ever since they first came to our door. They have decided to postpone the investigation over the winter break which has caused a great deal of anxiety and ambiguity for me. If I had committed this crime than I would have no pr