Emotional distress

A general distillation of the literature suggests that stress denotes a real or perceived perturbation to an organism’s physiological homeostasis or psychological well-being. Stress is a psychological and physiological reaction to an event or condition that is considered a threat or challenge.

However, distress can be defined as an aversive, negative state in which coping and adaptation processes fail to return an organism to physiological and/or psychological homeostasis. It is also named as emotional harm, mental anguish, mental distress, mental disturbance, mental suffering.

In general, emotional distress occurs when the person experiencing an extreme level of unpleasant emotions. It may result from a mental health issue or particular circumstances, such as relationship difficulties or financial strain.

For those who have lived through a natural or human-caused disaster, the anniversary of the event may renew feelings of fear, anxiety, and sadness. Certain sounds, such as sirens, can also trigger emotional distress.

For some people, distress is due to a traumatic experience or event, such as a death in the family. It can also result from a wide range of underlying mental health conditions.

Emotional distress can involve a range of symptoms.
· feelings of depression, anxiety, or emotional numbness
· difficulty managing anger
· declining performance at work or school
· having difficulty thinking or remembering
· compulsive/obsessive behaviors
· feeling overwhelmed, helpless, or hopeless
· trouble making decisions or processing information
· feeling guilty without a clear cause
· unusual irritability or aggression
· sleep disturbances
· dramatic weight fluctuations/changes in eating patterns
· experiencing physical symptoms, like all-over fatigue, headaches, or stomach pain
· spending a lot of time worrying

In tort law, there are two causes of action that involve infliction of emotional distress: intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress i.e., bystander action.
Emotional distress

Social distress

Stress responses are normal reactions to environmental or internal perturbations and can be considered adaptive in nature. It is simply a reaction to a situation that calls for a reaction. Distress occurs when stress is severe, prolonged, or both.

Distress can be defined as having subjective experiences of stress, mood problems, and problems with self-efficacy. Distress is the effect of an unpleasant and undesirable experience. Distress can be the result of events that are seen as threatening or particularly life-altering. Distress causes anxiety or concern. It can be short- or long-term and is perceived as outside of the person coping abilities.

Social distress or impairment has been associated with the symptoms of depression and has previously been studied in humans using social acceptance and social rejection. Social distress can stem from difficult social interactions, for example, a conflictual or tumultuous marital or family relationship.

In school for example, this kind of distress manifests as a rejection of all school activities, to the point that it hinders the student’s use and development of his/her cognitive, affective and relation abilities.

Major life events including interpersonal loss and social rejection are very strong risk factors for depression. Stressors of this nature, known as targeted rejection life events, are associated with a 22-fold increase in the risk of developing MDD (major depressive disorder).

Social distress has been pointed to as a major threat to self-regulation. Being in a negative mood increases the likelihood of self-regulation failure, such that dieters eat more, alcoholics report a greater craving for alcohol, and smokers experience a greater desire to smoke.
Social distress

Psychological distress

Stress is a fact of nature which is unavoidable in a normal human's life. Stress can be described as the problems or strains that people encounter throughout life. Distress occurs when stress is severe, prolonged, or both.

Psychological distress (PD) is a common mental health problem in the community. The existence of psychological distress has been recognized for thousands of years. It was stated that even 3,900 years old Egyptian manuscript provides a distressingly accurate picture of the sufferer’s pessimism, his loss of faith in others, his inability to carry out the everyday tasks of life and his serious consideration of suicide.

Psychological distress is caused by a variety of factors, which can be manifested as tension, fear, anxiety, and psychological instability. Certain distress even leads to serious psychological problems such as depression.

Psychological distress is largely defined as a state of emotional suffering characterized by symptoms of depression (e.g., lost interest; sadness; hopelessness) and anxiety (e.g., restlessness; feeling tense) and anxiety.

These symptoms often coexist and co-occur with common somatic complaints and a wide range of chronic conditions, as well as with medically unexplained syndromes.

Anger or irritability, anxiety and exhaustion are typical states of psychological distress, as well as the tendency to devalue and an inclination to isolate, stay away, not engaging in activities with others. Experience these symptoms for two weeks may be a sign of distress.
Psychological distress

Mental stress

The reason of the widen presence and inclusiveness of stress in human communities is the complexity of human social, personal, and ecological environment, multiple and simultaneously interactions of human with surrounding issues, and diversity in stress expression.

Research has shown that stress can sometimes be positive. This situation called ‘eustress’. Eustress helps the person rise to a challenge and can be an antidote to boredom because it engages focused energy.

However, stress has only been found to be beneficial if it is short-lived. Excessive or prolonged stress can lead to illness such as heart disease and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

Stress is the way human beings react both physically and mentally to changes, events, and situations in their lives (called a ‘stressor’).

What counts as a ‘stressor’ can vary hugely from person to person and differs according to his or her social and economic circumstances, the environment he lives in, genetic makeup and physiology.

Exercise is one of the most important things that can be done to combat stress. It might seem contradictory, but putting physical stress on the body through exercise can relieve mental stress.
Mental stress

Stress management

In a general sense, stress can be defined to a collection of physiological, emotional, behavioral and cognitive reactions that occur in response to environmental demands.

Stress management techniques are well known but require discipline to implement. Stress management includes: thoughts, emotions, planning, and ways to deal with problems identifying sources of stress in life.

Stress circuit breakers can be simple things such as taking a periodic 5-minute break or set aside one possibly two 15 - 20-minute periods each day and just sit with a still mind.

If really time restrained just step away from whatever is demanding attention and take 2 or 3 deep breaths exhaling slowly through pursed lips. Breathing releases nitric oxide into the circulatory system causing blood vessel relaxation, improved circulation and stress reduction.

Several studies have shown that individuals who exercise demonstrate lower physiological (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate) markers of stress and report less anxiety in response to a stressful situation than those who do not exercise.

Control the surrounding environment. Turn off the TV if the night news makes anxious. If the traffic causes stress and stress, choose a longer but lonelier route. If going to the market for daily routine is unpleasant, buy groceries online.

More time intensive stress control measures may be learning a yoga technique, Tai Chi, boating, golfing or just getting out into nature. A good night's sleep in conjunction with reduced alcohol intake can have wonderful rejuvenating qualities.

Eating a healthy diet full of nutrient rich foods can help the patient manage stress in several ways. For example, complex carbohydrates, like oatmeal and whole grain breads and cereals, cause your brain to release Serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with positive mood.
Stress management

Stress due to aging factor

Late life is often seen as a time of great, often uncontrollable, stress. Older people are often coping with chronic illness and disability, the loss of friends and family members, and their own impending mortality.

Psychological stress has frequently been associated with a broad spectrum of negative health outcomes. The stress response becomes problematic when the body becomes over-stressed and impacts on the capacity to cope with day to day stuff. Body response to stress is to activate the nervous system and trigger the hypothalamus to initiate greater production from the adrenal glands of two hormones adrenaline and cortisol for release into the bloodstream. These hormones speed up heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and metabolism.

Due to prolonged life expectancy, more and more adults are reaching very old age, increasing the possibility to face health-related stressors, consequently leading to higher levels of perceived stress.

Studies have found that between 27 and 48% of older adults suffer from psychological distress. Most investigations of psychological distress in older persons have found that it occurs at a higher rate in institutional settings than in private households.

The regular and oriented practice of exercise can increases the level of stress coping in elderly people, and also enhances their physical performance in everyday life activities.
Stress due to aging factor

Exercise Reduce Stress

Exercise Reduce Stress
Exercise returns your body to its normal equilibrium by releasing natural chemicals that build up during the stress response.

Exercise can improve your resilience to stress in various ways. Some of its benefits are listed below. Exercise performs the following functions:

• Releases endorphins into your bloodstream creating a sense of well being.
  
• Decrease muscle tension caused by emotional stress and produces a relaxation response in your mind a well as in your body.
  
• Increases alpha-wave activity in the brain, thus allowing you to clear your mind so you can focus and concentrate more easily.
  
• Rids your body of toxins.
  
• Improves your overall flexibility and posture, thus decreasing any spinal stiffness or pain caused by stress.
  
• Relieves indigestion and chronic constipation caused by stress.
  
• Lessens fatigue and improve overall energy level.
  
• Combats insomnia caused by stress and produces more restful sleep.
  
• Provides natural outlets for your daily pressures and enables you to better cope with the stress of modern day busy life.
  
• Strengthens your heart and lungs, thus improving your overall physical fitness level and health.
  
• Increases your resting metabolism or energy expenditure and help you to lose weight thus, you both look and feel good and can shed a negative self image caused by stress.
  
• Helps you realize that if you can change your attitude and behavior toward exercise, then you can change you ability to manage the stress in your life.
  
• Improves blood flow to the brain that nourishes it with needed oxygen and helps eliminates waste products.
  
  Exercise Reduce Stress