Sources of stress

The kids won't stop screaming, your boss has been hounding you because you turned a report in late, and you owe the IRS thousands of dollars you don't have. You're seriously stressed out. Stress is actually a normal part of life. At times, it serves a useful purpose. Stress can motivate you to get that promotion at work, or run the last mile of a marathon. But if you don't get a handle on your stress and it becomes long-term, it can seriously interfere with your job, family life, and health. More than half of Americans say they fight with friends and loved ones because of stress, and more than 70% say they experience real physical and emotional symptoms from it. Read on to learn why you get stressed out, and how that stress might be affecting your health. Causes of Stress Everyone has different stress triggers. Work stress tops the list, according to surveys. Forty percent of U.S. workers admit to experiencing office stress, and one-quarter say work is the biggest source of stress in their lives. Causes of work stress include: • Being unhappy in your job • Having a heavy workload or too much responsibility • Working long hours • Having poor management, unclear expectations of your work, or no say in the decision-making process • Working under dangerous conditions • Being insecure about your chance for advancement or risk of termination • Having to give speeches in front of colleagues • Facing discrimination or harassment at work, especially if your company isn't supportive...

Table of Contents • • • • • • • Sources of Stress Sources of Stress include: • Frustration • Conflict • Oppression • Change • Self-induced stress Frustration of stress • Frustration: Can’t get what you expect and need. • Delay: A person’s needs and desires are hindered or delayed. • Daily trivia: things like missing things, what to eat every day, incomplete forms, weight problems. • Failure: If the performance is not good, the competition is not as good as people, and the work efficiency is low. • Lack of resources: such as being deprived of something you want. • Discrimination: Such as gender, age, region, religion, and unequal treatment will make people feel stressed. Conflict When two or more incompatible motives are stimulated at the same time, the person will Conflict. Psychology divides conflict into four types: • Conflicts between • Two individuals At the same time, individuals are attracted to two favorite objects or targets at the same time. The so-called “fish and bear paws cannot be both.” For example, choose one of the two college courses that you love and rush to each other. • Conflict avoidance • Individuals must choose one of two disliked goals. No matter how they choose, the result must be unpleasant. For example, middle-aged people have to choose between marriage without love and painful divorce, or unskilled workers must choose between unemployed and disliked jobs. • Conflict avoidance • means that an individual has both the likes and dislikes of an objec...

• Psychology • Stress • Sources of Stress Sources of Stress For many of us, stress is a part of our daily lives. It’s what you feel when the deadline for an assignment approaches or an exam is just around the corner. People who work, for example, feel stress when they have to complete specific tasks or struggle with the workload. There are various forms of sources of stress. Stress is an… Sources of Stress • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •...

Stress generally refers to two things: the psychological perception of pressure, on the one hand, and the body's response to it, on the other, which involves multiple systems, from metabolism to muscles to Some stress is necessary for all living systems; it is the means by which they encounter and respond to the challenges and uncertainties of existence. The perception of danger sets off an automatic response system, known as the fight-or-flight response, that, activated through A stressful event—whether it’s the sudden appearance of a snake on the path or the These hormones increase heartbeat and the circulation of blood to support quick action, mobilize fat and sugar for immediate energy, focus But this lifesaving response was meant to solve short-term, life-threatening problems, not extended difficulties such as daily traffic jams or marital problems—a few of the many challenges that can hijack the stress response today. There are both physical and psychological approaches to blunt stress. Physical steps include Since the stress response begins in the brain with the perception of danger or the unknown, researchers now believe that the most basic, and likely most effective, way to diffuse stress is to change the perception of certain situations so that they are not seen as stressful in the first place. Studies show that helping people see certain experiences—such as final exams—as demanding rather than dire protects them from the corrosive effects of stress while still d...

Learning Outcomes • Discuss potential sources of stress If you poll a group of individuals about what their biggest stressors are, they’re likely to give you these four answers: • Money • Work • Family responsibilities • Health concerns In most surveys on stress and its causes, these four responses have been at the top of the list for quite a long time, and I’m sure you weren’t surprised to read them. But managers should take pause when they realize that all four of these are either directly or indirectly impacted by the workplace. Still, there are so many differences among individuals and their stressors. Why is one person’s mind-crippling stress another person’s biggest motivation and challenge? We’re going to attempt to answer this by looking at the three sources of stress—individual, organizational, and environmental—and then add in the concept of human perception in an attempt to understand this conundrum. Individual Factors Let’s start at the top. The first of three sources of stress is individual. Individuals might experience stressful commutes to work, or a stressful couple of weeks helping at a work event, but those kinds of temporary, individual stresses are not what we’re looking at here. We’re looking for a deeper, longer-term stress. Family stress—marriages that are ending, issues with children, an ailing parent—these are stressful situations that an employee really can’t leave at home when he or she comes to work. Financial stress, like the inability to pay b...

What's causing you stress may already be something you're abundantly aware of. But given the importance of keeping stress in check when it comes to mitigating the effects it can have on your physical and mental health, it's worth opening yourself up to the possibility that other factors may be at play, too. Craft your stress-reduction plan with all of them in mind. Financial Problems According to the American Psychological Association (APA), money is the top cause of stress in the United States. In a 2015 survey, the APA reported that 72% of Americans stressed about money at least some of the time during the previous month. The majority of the study participants reported money being a significant source of stress, with 77% feeling considerable anxiety about finances. On May 19, 2022, Verywell Mind hosted a virtual Mental Health in the Workplace webinar, hosted by Editor-in-Chief Amy Morin, LCSW. If you missed it, check out According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans now spend 8% more time at work compared to 20 years ago, and about 13% of people work a second job. At least 40% report their jobs are stressful, and 26% report they often feel burned out by their work. Any number of things can contribute to job stress, including too much work, job insecurity, dissatisfaction with a job or career, and conflicts with a boss and/or co-workers. Whether you are worried about a specific project or feeling unfairly treated, putting your job ahead of e...

Everyone encounters stressful situations on an almost daily basis, from minor pressures that we hardly notice, to occasional traumatic situations which can cause ongoing stress. Many of us do not realise that some forms of stress, known as eustress, can have a positive effect on our performance, and instead refer to those experiences which cause us negative distress as stressful. In recent decades, stress, its causes and our bodily response to stress have been the subject of numerous • Acute - Short-term events which do not last long but if traumatic, can have a lasting impact on us. • Episodic Stress - Situations which are also short-term but which we find ourselves in regularly, such as rushing to work or other recurring stressful experiences in the workplace. • Chronic - Ongoing stresses which last into the long-term. These may include the stress of illness or the friction of a fractious relationship. What are some common examples of these stressors, and what techniques can people use to avoid them or reduce the stress that they cause? Work Stressors We spend much of waking lives at work, so it is perhaps unsurprising that the workplace is a key source of stress. A survey published by the American Psychological Association in 2012 found that as many as 70% of Americans reported suffering from workplace stress. Professional strain can take its toll on the individual concerned, but can also cost employers dearly, with 13.5 million sick days estimated to have been linked t...