584: Stress and stressors Part 1 Sat. Feb. 07 26

Stress and stressors

To understand the effectiveness of mindfulness-based meditation in dealing with stress, it is important to understand in detail what stress and stressors are, and what they do. Next week we will talk about

therapeutic approaches using body scanning, mind scanning, and meditation. 

What is stress?

The term  “stress” was coined for the first time in 1926 by Dr.Hans Selye , a Canadian endocrinologist at McGill University. The current definition of stress associates the following:

•  Acute or chronic pathologies affecting body and mind.
• Triggered by an infinite number of internal and external factors called stressors.
• But almost always psychologically generated even if the stressor is external.

Definition of stressors:

A stressor is anything that we are experiencing negatively such as beyond our power to control, or to deal with, to understand, to solve, or accept, or expect .  Stressors have many origins, and the list is endless.                                                         

>>a) Stressors coming from Self:

             Body stressors: chronic / acute diseases. 

             Mind stressors:

• Psychologically driven: poor self-image, any negative thoughts/ emotions such as anger, fear, grief, resentment, jealousy, anxiety, etc…
• Intellectually driven: compulsory thoughts, decreasing concentration, memory loss, decrease analytic skill, judgment, etc..

>>b) Stressors coming from around self: Family /society /work /environment:

They are the  most frequent, and the list is endless.

What are the clinical manifestations of stress:                                                                                                     Stress can express itself in a multitude of ways and its manifestations can be unique to each individual.

They also vary greatly with the type of stressor and whether or not the stressor is acute or chronic.

Chronic stressors are more detrimental than the acute ones.

   1)Stress is affecting  the mind a two levels;

  >>>Intellectual: affecting our concentration, analysis, judgment, memory, creativity, etc.

  >>>Psychological by far the most frequent:

             Anxiety, depression, denial, poor self-image, feeling of failure, frustration, anger, 

             aggressiveness, resentment, guilt, helplessness, addictions, burnout, lack of libido, PTSD, 

    2)Stress affecting the body is also called psychosomatic disorders.

  Eating/sleeping disorders, chronic fatigue, lack of energy, high blood pressure, diabetes,

   sexual dysfunction, chronic pain (headache, neck, back ), gastro-intestinal ( digestion, transit,    

  skin disease, immune depression. 

If the conditions are persisting medical consultation is advised.       

    3) Stress affecting our societal interaction:

   Low productivity, loss of interpersonal skills, antisocial behavior, compulsive behavior such

   as work, spending, gambling, shopping and sex, loss of empathy, withdrawal, etc.

What is the genesis of stress?:

If we understand pretty well what stress and stressors are, how exactly they are affecting us is not yetwell known. The onset appears coming from the amygdala, part of the reptilian brain which process our emotions.From there there is a complex cascades de reactions including the hypothalamus, autogenomic nervous systems, neuro-transmitters such as GABA , adrenal glands, and several circulating hormones such as cortisol.