Wildcat Pause: The Anxiety Issue

Under distress or eustress?
Kayla Tezcan
Staff Writer
Stress surrounds us on a daily basis, and chances are
everyone will experience different levels of stress at various
points during their life. At the most basic level, stress is our
body’s expected response to pressures from a situation or life
event. Rational worries about societal influences, parental
expectations, family dynamics, school and activities, or
even just simply the demands of everyday life induce both
negative and positive stress.
When people say they are stressed, most likely they are
talking about having distress, or negative, unhealthy stress.
Distress has these characteristics: causes anxiety or concern,
can be short term or long term, and can make someone feel
unmotivated and unpleasant. Long term distress can lead to
both mental and physical problems.
However, not all stress
is negative. Eustress is
described as moderate
psychological stress that
is an overall beneficial
experience. Customarily,
people don’t assume
that positive life-altering
events like weddings, job
promotions, purchasing a
home, and even having
a child promote eustress,
but it has been proven
that these experiences
do indeed produce this
form of stress.
According to the National
Institute of Mental Health,
in non-life-threatening
situations, stress can
motivate people, such as
when they need to take
a test. In a dangerous
situation, stress signals the
body for flight or fight.
Eustress
-The type of stress having
a beneficial effect on wellbeing,
emotions, motivation,
and performance
-Getting engaged/married
-Having a child
-Buying a new home/selling
old house
-Going on a vacation
-Retiring
-Starting a new relationship
-Planning a party
-Receiving a promotion or
raise at a current job
-Learning something new
-Moving somewhere
unfamiliar
-Sports or performances
The feeling of motivation can allow us to set goals, grow
interests, boost engagement, and even aid in a change
of behavior. Research shows that seeing your stressor as a
growth opportunity helps you perform better in stressful tasks.
Some people who report never or rarely having had stress
may be too averse to risks, which could make it more unlikely
for them to reach their goals in their life or relationships, and
they may become bored and depressed.
Some researchers have suggested that having to handle
a moderate level of stress can make us mentally stronger
and better able to manage future stress. Richard Dienstbier,
the Director of the Social-Personality Program and the Series
Editor of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, theory
(1989) of mental toughness suggests that experiencing
some manageable stressors, with recovery in between, can
make us mentally and physically tougher and better able
to manage future stressors. Individuals must have the right
balance of acute stress in their life.
In a study of lab rats at the University of California,
Berkeley, a short duration of stressful encounters led their
brains’ stem cells to rapidly increase into new nerve cells.
Types of Stress
This resulted in an inflation of mental performance after two
weeks. Although Bruce McEwen, head of the Harold and
Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology
at The Rockefeller University, was not involved in the study,
he noted that the findings, “in general, reinforce the
notion that stress hormones help an animal adapt – after
all, remembering the place where something stressful
happened is beneficial to deal with future situations in the
same place.”
There can also be a risk that too much stress can affect
a child’s brain development, and this could prove to be
worrisome. There is currently a growth of science attempting
to study how experiencing traumatic events during
adolescence can alter brain development and cause other
systemic disorders throughout the course of life.
The National Scientific
Council on the Developing
Distress
-The type of stress with
negative implications
-The death of a loved one or
family member
-Hospitalization
-Conflict in interpersonal
relationships
-Unemployment
-School demands and
frustrations
-Problems with friends
-Legal Problems
-Bankruptcy/money
problems
-Being neglected or abused
-Emotional issues
(depression, anxiety, anger,
grief, and low self-esteem)
SWR’s Mental Health Team
Child, established in
2003, integrates scientific
knowledge to educate
policymakers, civic
leaders, and the general
public about the rapid
advancement of science
explaining early childhood
development and its
underlying neurobiology. In
one of their working papers,
the organization stated,
“Significant maternal stress
during pregnancy and
poor maternal care during
infancy both affect the
developing stress system
in young animals and alter
genes that are involved in
brain development.” The
study the Council produced
revealed that experiencing
exceptionally high levels of
stress-cultivated impaired
memory and learning abilities, as well as cognitive defects,
in adulthood.
Students have to simultaneously handle the daily stress
of worrying about grades, exams, homework, dysfunctional
families, relationships with friends or acquaintances, sports
and other extracurricular activities. Some even have to
worry about squeezing in a job.
Too much stress, or chronic stress, where a normal lifesaving
reaction causes a disturbance in the immune,
reproductive, digestive, sleep, and cardiovascular
systems. Over time, excessive amounts of stress can lead
to continued strain on your body that contribute to dire
health problems, namely high blood pressure, diabetes,
heart disease, and many other illnesses, including but not
limited to mental disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Considering this, the same stressor may be manageable
for one person but extremely overwhelming for another, it
all depends on their perception of the situation they are
experiencing. An article from healthline.com said, “As long
as it’s not chronic, stress can be a positive addition to your
life.”
Dr. Peter D’Elena
Psychologist
An additional mental
health counselor
is available in the
guidance office two
afternoons a week
from 1 to 4 p.m.
Mrs. Jackie Anci
Social Worker
Page 6/March 2020/ Wildcat Pause