what is mental stress

Mental Stress

Modern life and mental stress are inextricably linked. With the increase in happiness and possibilities in modern life, mental stress is also increasing. As humans try to adapt to the changing circumstances and complexities of life, mental stress is also increasing accordingly. In order to control mental stress and make life more peaceful and happy, we must first understand the nature of mental stress.

Firstly, the word stress is derived from the definition used in physics. Every object exerts some load on a volume. In that sense, mental stress is like a load. Many people mistakenly consider all difficult or painful stimuli as mental stress. Extreme heat, extreme cold, etc. are considered stress. In fact, these are stressors.

Similarly, some people mistakenly consider physical reactions as stress. Excessive sweating, fatigue, etc. are called stress. But these are not stress either. They are indicators of stress.

Actually, mental stress is a process. Mental stress occurs when some stimuli disrupt the coordination of an organism and create instability for the organism.

From a practical point of view, a practical definition of mental stress can be given. Man is the owner of various resources. The material resources of man are physical health, wealth and other consumables.

Personal resources can be considered as a person's ability, self-confidence, self-efficacy and training. Similarly, a person's social resources are the support of his family, friends and colleagues. Some may consider a person's spiritual resources.

On the other hand, a person has to face some challenges or demands. Poverty, excessive heat, excessive cold, etc. are material demands. Similarly, interviews, performing responsible work, working with skill, etc. are personal demands. These are fulfilling the needs of friends and family, taking care of friends and fulfilling other social responsibilities.

When a person feels that the demands are too much in proportion to his resources, he experiences mental stress. Therefore, the central point of mental stress is the person's self-evaluation. When a person feels that the demands are too much in comparison to his resources, he experiences mental stress. On the other hand, if the resources are considered to be sufficient in comparison to the demands, there is no possibility of mental stress. A capable student does not suffer from mental stress even if he emphasizes the challenge in the exam.

Physical activity increases during mental stress. Some amount of activity and work activity do not cause mental stress. Some amount of activity is necessary for daily life. The Greeks believed that a small amount of stress is necessary for life. This is accepted even in modern times.

Sometimes, mental stress is caused by a lack of stimulation or activity. This is called Rust or Rust out Stress Syndrome in the definition of mental stress. The meaning of saying that stress is caused by too little or too much stimulation. There is a possibility of creating a feeling of boredom without doing anything at all and the responsibility of too much work compared to the time causes boredom.

Since stress is a process, there are several levels or stages of experiencing stress. First, a person faces a challenge or demand and sees danger signals. The second stage is the most important. At this stage, he evaluates the challenge. He considers how many resources he has to face it. This is a mental process. Even though the amount of material resources is high, a person can consider himself resourceless. Similarly, a person can consider himself resourceful even though he has a small amount of resources.

The person's own perspective is important above all. Depending on his evaluation, a person becomes subject to stress. If he considers the situation to be insignificant compared to his resources, the person avoids stress in the third stage. But if he considers the amount of external demands to be high compared to his resources, stress occurs.

After the onset of stress, some symptoms appear. Often, we consider all these symptoms to be stress. In fact, some changes are created due to a process such as mental stress.

Firstly, some physical changes occur due to mental stress. Symptoms such as changes in heart rate, changes in blood pressure, excessive sweating, changes in skin temperature, etc. are manifested. There are also changes in brain waves. Some secretions are also produced inside the body. These can be measured with the help of various instruments.

The psychological changes that occur during mental stress take the form of anxiety or apathy. These manifestations often occur. Many people equate anxiety and apathy with mental stress. But these two are symptoms of mental stress. Anxiety and apathy can also occur for other reasons

Not just anxiety and lack of motivation. There are other symptoms of mental stress. A person under mental stress is constantly worried. An inability to easily relieve oneself and to have fun in leisure time is manifested.

Sometimes people under mental stress take refuge in alcohol, drugs like cannabis and marijuana and other intoxicants. They experience insomnia. The tendency to work easily with others decreases. There is no control over one's emotions and emotional instability is manifested. Sometimes there is a disturbance in digestion. Blood pressure increases. Overall, there is an inability to cope with the daily situations of life.

Mental stress can be mild or severe. Similarly, it can be temporary or long-term. The degree and duration of mental stress depends on how long the causes of mental stress have been active. That's because everything is so powerful and the person has the ability to deal with it. It's good to let the mental stress go for a while and then relax. But this is not always possible.

Supposedly, everything was going well for a man. Suddenly, for some reason, his salary was no longer sufficient. At that time, his wife left him. And the divorce case put him in even more trouble. The Income Tax Department came down on him like a pile of garbage on top of a pile of garbage. Needless to say, multiple failures occurring at the same time can create intense and long-lasting mental stress for a person.

There are many causes of mental stress. The source of these causes can be the person himself, the family, the workplace, the immediate environment or the larger environment. Research has shown that a certain type of personality is more likely to cause stress. Such a personality is called a K-personality.

People with such a personality display three main characteristics.

They are very conscious about time. They are always on top of completing work on time, meeting others as promised and making the best use of time. Secondly, they are goal-oriented. Their nature is to work with a specific goal and work quickly. Thirdly, they display an aggressive attitude to some extent. They have an insatiable desire to move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their work, to impress others and to impress others with their ideas.

Apart from these three main characteristics, they are fast in their eating, walking, talking and working.

On the other hand, people with B-personality act mentally as they walk. Research by psychologists shows that people with K-personality are prone to a lot of mental stress.

It should not be concluded from this discussion that this personality is avoidable because K-personality creates mental stress. The main point is

People with such personalities need to make more efforts to reduce mental stress.

Whether it is family or work organization, the source of mental stress is frustration. The reasons for frustration can be considered in the context of the work organization. All the factors that cause mental stress are called stressors. Mental stress is created when there is too much work in proportion to the time. The more the lack of time to complete the work is felt, the more mental stress starts increasing.

Similarly, when the superior employee is not able to explain the work properly to the subordinate employee, such lack of good management creates stress in the minds of the subordinate employee.

Political instability is one of the reasons for creating stress. A corresponding amount of power is required to perform a certain amount of responsibility. If the person is not given that much power, stress is created. Mental stress is created when there is no harmony between the various roles performed by the person. For example, as a family member, a person has something to do and as an employee of an organization, some tasks need to be performed. But when these two roles demand a lot of time and resources from the person, the person faces a deep conflict.

Similarly, when there is a conflict between personal values ​​and organizational values, stress increases. A person may experience chronic stress when they are unable to cope with a major life change, such as losing a job. In general, regardless of the source of the stress, intense and persistent frustration is the root cause of mental stress.