What Is Family Stress?

Stress is very well known for just what it means: STRESS. Its effect on human beings from a local and a global standpoint is far greater than any of us imagine. Stress can overtake one’s body physically, mentally, emotionally, as well as behavioral aspects. This is not something to take lightly. This is actually very serious. If you notice, it’s not just older people that die this day and time with heart attacks, suicide, and things of this nature. People of all ages. Older people, younger people, and even really young people. Children, yes, I said children. Don’t automatically think that stress only affects older people that have lived a longer

The definition of stress according to the Oxford dictionary is “A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.”

The 10 dimensions of Family Stress are a way to describe a family stressor. Lipman-Blumen created a list of 10 dimensions that family stressors are based on. These ten categories are: internal vs external, pervasive vs bounded, precipitate onset vs gradual onset, intense vs mild, transitory vs chronic, random vs expected, natural generation vs artificial generation, scarcity vs surplus, perceived insolvable vs perceived solvable, and substantive context. Some of these factors may seem obvious and others may not. Some may have a direct influence on the stressor and others may not. But, each of these can lead to a crisis if not taken seriously. For all of these categories, I think it all depends on the crisis and each situation.

“Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances”. It is generally known as “pattern of disruptive physiological and psychological reaction to events that threaten the ability to cope” (Oxford Living Dictionaries, 2017).

From your perspective, what are some of the stressors your select family is experiencing? With your select family in mind, complete the 71 life events Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes scale (Bomar, pp. 416-417). What additional stressors did the scale help you identify, if any? Explain why you consider the pile-up level of stress your select family is experiencing to be high, moderate, or low.

Pope (2005) portrays stress as the perceived shortcomings between demands and the accessibility of resources to meet those demands. Stress is a feeling that affects people of all ages. Stress impacts people in a large array of ways, which include emotionally, physically, and mentally (Rollin,

Family stress from a positive perspective could be a new baby, a new job, or a planning a wedding. These are positive because although they are going to cause stress it is stress you will actually want to deal with and adjust to it. Negative stress could be a divorce or a car accident. These come out of nowhere usually and make you have to deal with everything daily.

Ashley expressed stressors in the family are caused by unrealistic expectations from some adults in the family. Ashley informed intake clinician that the family works well cohesively together; however, there are relationships which causes stress within the family. Ashley plays her role as being one of the strong matriarch figures in her family. Ashley grew up in a single-parent home where her mother was the provider. She witnessed her mother take care of 6 children on her own and be the head-of- household. Furthermore, she witnessed the struggles of being a single black mother and how hardships were easy to come by. However, although she learned to be independent and stand alone, she desires not to be a single mother and give her children a traditional family.

Scenario: I was assigned a 47- year old male that has suffered from AIDS for the last 12 years. His CD4 cell count has declined to less than 200 and he is currently fighting infections like thrush, herpes zoster, and tuberculosis. His support system includes his parents and his sister. He has no children and his wife passed away 17 months ago from AIDS.

There are two types of disruptions. One of them is simply stress. This means that there could be a lack of communication or inconsistency. When there is a stressed family, it means there is a disruption of what is considered normal. According to Boss (2002), Family stress is a pressure or strain on a family’s fixed state. This stress causes a change in the family’s homeostasis. Homeostasis is what a family considers normal. While the stress may not be initially bad, the amount of stress reaches either a high level or a low level. When one member of the family shows a symptom of disturbance, it begins to affect the family. (Boss, 2002)

Psychological stress is a result of many factors and should be dealt with very carefully. Stress can be defined as “An excess of demand made upon the adaptive capabilities of the mind and body”.(Joseph 1). Another way of putting it, is that there are some things 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.

Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing surroundings. It has physical and emotional effects on us and can make good or bad feelings. As a good influence, stress can help motivate us to do something, or help us through the day. As a bad influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression (overall, make you feel really crappy), which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomachs, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and strokes. With the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, a job promotion (or demotion), or a new relationship, we experience stress as we change our lives to cater to

Hans Selye (1982) points out that few people define the concept of stress in the same way or even bother to attempt a clear-cut definition. According to Selye, an important aspect of stress is that a wide variety of dissimilar situations are capable of producing the stress response such as fatigue, effort, pain, fear, and even success. This has led to several definitions of stress, each of which highlights different aspects of stress. One of the most comprehensive models of stress is the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress (Bernard & Krupat, 1994). According to the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress, stress involves three components: an external component, an internal component, and the interaction between the external and internal components.

Stress is part of our lives. We live with it, deal with it, and above all worry about it. Our way of life, the area in which we live, the economy, and our jobs can cause a great deal of stress. Not everyone deals with the same level of stress and there are several factors that can impact our lives and cause us to have higher or lower stress levels. We can have stress caused by Cataclysmic events which according to Feldman (2009) are events that can affect many people at the same time and are “disasters such as tornado and plane crashes, as well as terrorist attacks”. (p418). Other factors are personal stressors and can be caused by events such as a divorce, death or a loved one or the loss of a job. (Feldman, 2009). The

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