Stress can be beneficial or harmful depending on the type and control. Mental health professionals identify three types: chronic, acute, and acute episodic stress. Acute stress can be good or bad, while chronic stress is the most debilitating and can cause physical or emotional illness.
Stress is how the human body reacts to the demands placed on it by the internal world of a person and the external world he encounters. It is a normal part of life and can be beneficial to the body or harmful, depending on the types of stress encountered and whether the stress is under control. In general, mental health professionals have identified three types of stress. People may be dealing with chronic stress, acute stress, or acute episodic stress. The types of stress are not mutually exclusive and it is possible for all three to be present in an individual’s life at the same time.
Human bodies respond differently to each of these types of stress. Acute stress, also known as the fight-or-flight response, is new, short-lived stress. Create a sudden, spontaneous reaction to a fright, shock, challenge, or grave threat.
Oddly enough, acute stress can be both good and bad. Eustress, considered good stress, is fun and keeps people alive. It’s the kind of stress a person experiences during an exhilarating ski descent on a difficult slope, when riding a roller coaster, or while watching a scary movie. The negative form of acute stress, distress, is one of the intense types of stress and is what a person might experience when trying to meet an important deadline or after a car accident. It’s for a short time, so acute stress usually doesn’t cause serious problems for the body, but overdoing short-term stress could cause tension headaches, stomach pain, or other symptoms.
Episodic acute stress is a form of stress that occurs when the acute stress ceases to be a short-term stress and, instead, occurs frequently and becomes a way of life. People experiencing acute episodic stress often live lives of chaos, crisis, and disorganization. Over time, the symptoms of this type of stress can be severe, resulting in high blood pressure, migraines and heart disease.
Chronic stress is the most debilitating type of stress because it seemingly has no end; for example, it’s the stress of feeling trapped in an unhappy marriage or a bad job. The body’s response to chronic stress isn’t as dramatic as the fight-or-flight response to acute stress, but research suggests that because it lasts longer, it causes more problems. With chronic stress, a person’s mental and physical resources may be depleted to the point of causing a physical or emotional illness such as a stroke, heart attack, or even suicide.
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