Stress Disorders, the Stress Is so Great

Stress disorders, the stress is so great that it is debilitating and dominates the person and interferes with living one's life. Stress can be good or bad. A skiing champion described how stress helped him perform his best, but a Viet Nam War veteran describes how horrific things he had seen haunted him and intruded into his mind, while awake and while asleep.

Our bodies show clear responses to stress. We perspire, breath quicker, heartbeat rises, and muscles tense for action. WE may also turn pale, or get "goose bumps," or feel sick to the stomach. Stress can trigger anxiety problems. In stressful situations, the brain triggers a variety of body-function changes. The sympathetic nervous system rallies body functions for fight 0r flight; the parasympathetic nervous system restores us to normal functioning.

One of the most devastating of the stress disorders is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It makes sense to be distressed by horrific events when they happen; that is acute stress disorder. If the memories linger, causing a repeated stress response, it may be PTSD. The person with PTSD re-experiences the event in vivid memories or nightmares. They avoid situations that might trigger these memories. The constant stress leaves them less responsive to deveryday events around them (psychic numbing or emotional anesthesia). The stress leaves them feeling disconnected from friends and loved ones or separate to some extent from reality. They may be in a state of hyper-alertness, have trouble concentrating and sleeping, and may well feel guilty over their own survival.

Various things can cause PTSD including combat, natural disasters, rape, systematic abuse (ex: the Holocaust), witnessing violence, and terrorism.

Experts suspect that some people may be biologically predispositioned to develop a stress disorder. Certain personalities are more vulnerable than others. Those who are already slightly anxious, or who have other psychological problems before the traumatic event, are more likely to be permanently affected. People who feel they have little control over their life are more traumatized by awful events.

Childhood experiences, such as living in poverty, can make a person more vulnerable to stress disorders as well as those with weak social supports. The severity of the traumatic event and the proximity to it plays a role as well. Many people across the country were negatively affected by the 9/11 attacks, but overall, the people who lived closer to the site were the most affected by it.

Some experts believe that interventions applied right after the traumatic event has happened can help prevent the development of PTSD. The Red Cross developed the "Disaster Response Network" along with the American Psychological Association to provide quick help for people traumatized by natural disasters or other major destructive events. 2,000 volunteer psychologists provide immediate counseling for those in need. They have responded to Hurricane Andrew, the Oklahoma City bombing, The Columbine High School massacre and of course the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of 9/11/2001. The approach is called "critical incident stress debriefing," and is intended to help the person put the events into perspective.

They educate the person about how they will feel afterwards, such as feelings of grief or difficulty sleeping. They encourage the person to express their feelings, they teach self-help skills, and if necessary, refer the person for more intensive therapy. The people who provide relief after such events may need this kind of support themselves. Some people do not think this is a good approach, noting that many people develop PTSD afterwards anyway. They worry that this immediate response might just encourage the person to dwell on what they witnessed.

A variety of therapies, along with medication, can be used to treat PTSD.

A more mild reaction to trauma is adjustment disorder, often accompanied by depression or anxiety. Adjustment disorder can be triggered by more mild stresses -- the end of a relationship, business difficulties, living in an unsafe neighborhood, marriage difficulties.

Stress can also cause or make worse physical illnesses. The chart showing all the organs the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system makes that very understandable. The psychophysiological disorders can include ulcers, asthma, insomnia, tension headaches, migraines, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Again, the book mentions the combination of personal, social and biological factors. Stress can affect our immune systems.