The Relationship Between Stress And Social Support

This analysis persists of key points, about The article “Stress and the brain by Janet Elder”. The author forged an excellent informative piece to educate the reader on the effects of stress on the brain. The author states that “Stress can be both good and bad. It is part of life, and your brain and body respond to it”. The author clarifies that, "Whether stress is harmful or helpful depends on the amount of stress, how severe it is, and how long it lasts".

According to Janeway1, “stress is a physical or psychological stimulus which, when impinging upon an individual , produces strain or disequilibrium”.1 Stress is a biological, physiological and behavioural response to environmental demands. An appropriate amount of stress has protective and adaptive functions however a high amount of stress can cause pathological changes or even death.4 Exposure to stress can lead to painful emotions such as anxiety or depression, as well as physical illness.3 People under an overwhelming amount of stress may experience tachycardia, palpitations and rapid breathing.7

In the first section of chapter 13 the book explains not only the precise definition of stress but also the ways one can become stressed.Society defines stress as anything which forces us to change. Though technically stress is defined as “a negative emotional state occurring in response to events that are perceived as taking or exceeding a person’s resources or ability to cope.” . However, stress used to be defined as “the physiological response to harmful or treating events.” This idea of a negative experience creating stress is not applicable today because now we know that stress does not just come from a negative

Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand; it can be caused by both good and bad experiences.

Our book describes stress as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability” (Weiten, 2014). Stress is not necessarily a traumatic, life destroying event. It can be as simple a small change in one’s daily schedule. People will have multiple stresses throughout their lifetime. Some will be little and daily, but overtime these add up and can affect you in many ways. Stress can be positive or negative and can take many forms; a few being frustration, internal conflict, change, and pressure. All of which make almost a daily appearance in my life (Weiten, 2014).

Stress that is not well managed can have wide-reaching effects on the way that people live their lives and the way that people interact with others. It is not uncommon for a stressed person to push away all of their support mechanisms: friends, family, loved ones, and social/cultural/spiritual activities. In fact, all of these support mechanisms are an effective counter to stress, but the severely stressed person cannot see this and instead can often withdraw into solitude and a lonely existence. Over time, negative stress that is not managed effectively can seriously damage a person’s health and wellbeing.

This scholarly paper is about stress, one of the social determinants of health, and how stress occurs and how it influences the health and wellbeing of an individual. Stress affects the mental and psychological health of a person, which reflects in their thoughts and emotions, ultimately, making them think or act in a different way than normal. This abnormal behaviour could potentially lead to further severe mental damage. Stress also affects a person’s family and people near them, resulting in separation or loss of friendship, marriage and other social bonds with communities. The paper also endeavours to look into some of the strategies to overcome stress and the ways to fit into a healthy and happy life

Dr. McEwen explains what happens to the brain when it is on stress, “The brain perceives and determines what is threatening as well as the behavioral and physiological responses to the stressor, which not only promote adaptation (“allostasis”) but also contribute to pathophysiology (“allostatic load/overload”) when those responses are overused and dysregulated.” (McEwen,1)

Stress is a huge factor in everyday life; something that most people experience on a daily basis, and indeed, suffer from without ever really giving it much thought at all. It is defined as “the process by which we [human beings] appraise and cope with environmental threats and challenges” (Myers, 2014, p. 2.9), and the National Institute of Mental Health states that stress is “the brain’s response to any demand” (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). It has the ability to affect the human body in both positive and negative ways, and according to David Myers, it is all in how we face these challenges (2014, p. 2.9) whether we will succeed or end up feeling even more stressed out than before. It is for this reason that the concept of

Stress is an emotional state that is difficult to define because everyone experiences stress in different ways. Pathologically speaking, stress is the brain’s response to certain demands for change and can be positive or negative depending on the individual. This state of mind is induced by physical and emotional stimuli; this in turn generates a response that affects many aspects of a person’s wellbeing. Psychological, behavioral and biological stressors all play a role in an individual’s mood, sense of well-being, behavior and health (Schneiderman, Ironson, & Siegel, Stress and health: psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants, 2005). These factors can threaten our internal homeostasis which

Social support is an integral part of our lives and plays a significant role in our individual and family wellbeing. Research evidence on social support suggests that people are less susceptible to harsh circumstances than they would in the absence of social support. The phenomenon of psychological stress has been studied and examined from a social support perspective, leading to conclusions that suggest that social support may mediate the experience of stress and also increase coping skills. Essentially psychological stress has been documented as having a lot to do with individual appraisal, yet it has been acknowledged that other factors may also play a role in the appraisal process contributing to stress. Social support is a general word used to define an idea of support systems in various contexts. Furthermore it is impossible to understand the relationship

Cooper & Marshall (1976). A response based definition; this comes in three stages, first being the body is alerted and responds with a reaction. Moving on to the next stage being autonomic activity is activated so the body prepares to deal with the stress, but if the stress becomes overbearing the body cannot handle this and begins to breakdown and become damaged Selye (1956) And lastly stress as a dynamic process; this definition of stress which has contributing factors to the other two definitions of stress. This suggests stress is a dynamic process including internal and external factors, the characteristics of an individual and also the interactions between them. Cognitive factors are more focussed upon in this definition; the amount of stress experienced by a person is determined by demands. This definition suggests there is a link between emotional and environmental factors Sulsky and Smith (2005). The definition of stress is subjective to an individual and each have their own perceptions of what stress is. Stress is the concept how well a person can deal with lifestyle factors but in fact there are many ways stress can impact in anyway, it depends on the individual’s tolerance and view of a situation. In addition to Butler.G., the researchers Kranner, I., Minibayeva, F. V., Beckett, R. P., and Seal, C. E. (2010) definitions of stress were largely

‘The term stress describes a series of dynamical physiological and behavioral changes to promote survival in response to a stressor, with the brain being the critical interpreter of what is stressful’.

Stress is the feeling of intense pressure which people feel when they are depended upon to perform actions which overwhelm them. It is defined as "a response to a demand that is placed upon you" (Managing 2013). People's responses to stress can be

Stress is also linked low fertility in one’s reproductive organs, and can cause problems during pregnancy or one’s menstrual cycle (www.everydayhealth.com). This happens when one is overwhelmed with the stress he or she is going through in their lives. No one person is the same, meaning stressors as well as stress levels differ for each individual. This is why it is hard for scientists to reach the core because it is a subjective sensation related with a variety of symptoms that differ for each of us. Because of this, stress is not always a synonym for distress. Situations like a steep roller coaster ride that cause fear and anxiety for some can prove highly pleasurable for others (www.stress.org). Each person also responds to stress differently. There are numerous physical as well as emotional responses to stress. Stress can cause an ocean of different emotions that are often times unpredictable. It can have wide ranging effects on people’s emotions, mood and behavior (www.stress.org). Stress has said to have been America’s number one leading health problem. It has been shown that stress levels have escalated in children, teenagers, college students and the elderly for reasons that of which have lead to: increased crime, violence, and other threats to personal safety; pernicious peer pressures that lead to substance abuse and other unhealthy life style habits; social isolation and loneliness; the erosion of family and religious