As we saw in a previous post, stress is a series of reactions in the body. What causes stress? There are many causes of stress. Generally, any stimulus that evokes those reactions is called a “stressor.” We can divide stressors into two groups:
- psychological stressors and
- biological stressors
Psychological stressors
Anything that we regard as threatening, dangerous, disgusting or insulting can be considered as a psychological stressor. The events or stimuli are first appraised in our minds, and when our mental apparatus regards them as threatening or dangerous, they turn into stressors and evoke the cascade of stress reaction.
Some environmental events usually cause stress in almost everyone. Everybody finds a tsunami or an earthquake dangerous. These kinds of stimuli are sometimes called “absolute stressors.”
However, most of the time we are dealing with “relative stressors.” That is, they evoke the stress response in some people more than others. Many events are not stressors in themselves, but our take on them makes them stressors. So in the group of psychological stressors, which make up the vast majority, it is our mind that decides if something is stressful in the first place, or how stressful something could be. Here the stress response actually starts in the mind.
Although some stressors are inherently more powerful than others, it is still the mental status that determines their severity. This psychological status could be dependent upon many factors like the present situation, past experiences, genetic predispositions and so on. So between the stimulus and the stress response, stands the mind of the person. Now we can understand what a significant role our interpretations play in evoking the stress response. For this reason, psychological or mind-body interventions can help people with stress-related disorders. Most of the time stress is a “psycho-physiological” reaction.
Biological stressors
These are the stimuli that can directly affect the sympathetic nervous system without any psychological evaluation of the situation. Substances like tea or coffee, drugs like amphetamines, nicotine, very severe physical exertion, extreme heat or cold and severe injury are included in this category. Habits like smoking during stressful life events can only aggravate the outcomes of stress.
Stress vs Anxiety
Stress and anxiety have a lot in common. We can assume that emotions like anxiety, fear and anger either start or accompany the series of neuro-hormonal reactions we call stress. These are emotional counterparts of the physical processes of stress, and this whole emotional-somatic picture comprises our general adaptation response to the demanding environment.
