Stress is a human condition, its non-specific reactions at the physiological, psychological and behavioral levels, arising in response to extremely strong extreme stimuli.
Main types of stress:
- physiological;
- psychological.
The latter is divided into informational and emotional. It can be both negatively and positively colored events, phenomena. For example, stress can arise when receiving a joyful event that a loved one who was considered dead is alive.
Stress can have a positive, mobilizing effect, but it can manifest itself negatively, leading to disorganization of the body. Stress with a negative impact is referred to as distress (unhappiness, malaise, need).
Emotional stress, in contrast to information stress associated with intellectual information overload, occurs in threatening situations, in connection with resentment, danger.
A stressor is a factor that causes a state of stress. Distinguish:
- physiological (extreme physical activity, high or low temperature, pain, etc.);
- psychological (threat to well-being, fear, sense of danger) stressors.
Adjustment disorder is observed during the period of adaptation to a significant change in social status (loss of loved ones or prolonged separation from them, the position of a refugee) or to a stressful life event (including a serious physical illness). At the same time, a short-term relationship between stress and the disorder that has arisen must be proven – no more than 3 months from the onset of the stressor.
With adjustment disorders in the clinical picture, there are:
- depressed mood;
- anxiety;
- anxiety;
- a feeling of improbability to cope with the situation, to adapt to it;
- some decrease in productivity in daily activities;
- propensity for dramatic behavior;
- outbursts of aggression.
According to the predominant feature, the following adjustment disorders are distinguished:
- short-term depressive reaction (no more than 1 month);
- prolonged depressive reaction (no more than 2 years);
- mixed anxiety and depressive reaction, with a predominance of disturbances in other emotions;
- reaction with a predominance of behavioral disorders.
Among other reactions to severe stress, nosogenic reactions are also noted (they develop in connection with a severe somatic disease). There are also acute reactions to stress, which develop as reactions to an exceptionally powerful, but short-lived (for hours, days) traumatic event that threatens the mental or physical integrity of the individual.