TYPES &

CAUSEs OF
STRESS
 Types of Stress
• According to American psychological association(APA), 3 types of
STRESS; Acute, Episodic acute and Chronic stress.

STRESS

EPISODIC ACUTE
ACUTE STRESS STRESS CHRONIC STRESS
Most common, short term, Recurring to people overloaded Caused by long term
and comes on suddenly with responsibilities and exposure to stressors
schedules
Acute (short-term) stress: It is your body’s reaction to an
immediate threat, commonly known as fight or flight response. This is
caused by a short-term stressor, and it goes away quickly. Everybody
experiences this at some point in their lives, and it is caused by a variety
of situations. Examples of acute stress include:

• Taking an exam
“Acute stress can present in anyone’s
• Job interview life. It is highly treatable and
• Having an argument manageable. However, repeated acute
stress can become very harmful for
• Noise, crowding, infection, etc. your physical and mental health”.
• However, if the stress meets DSM-5 criteria, then individual may be
diagnosed with Acute Stress Disorder.

DSM-5
• To meet the DSM-5-TR criteria for diagnosis of acute stress disorder, patients
must have been exposed directly or indirectly to a traumatic event, and ≥ 9 of the
following symptoms from any of the 5 categories (intrusion, negative mood,
dissociation, avoidance, and arousal) must be present for a period of 3 days up to
1 month.

 Intrusion symptoms
Recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive distressing memories of the event
Recurrent distressing dreams of the event
Dissociative reactions (eg, flashbacks in which patients feel as if the traumatic
event is recurring)
Intense psychological or physiologic distress when reminded of the event (eg, by
entering a similar location, by sounds similar to those heard during the event)
Dissociative symptoms
• An altered sense of reality (eg, feeling in a daze, time slowing, altered
perceptions)
• Inability to remember an important part of the traumatic event

Avoidance symptoms
• Efforts to avoid distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings associated
with the event
• Efforts to avoid external reminders (people, places, conversations,
activities, objects, situations) associated with the event
Negative mood
• Persistent inability to experience positive emotions (eg, happiness,
satisfaction, loving feelings)
Arousal symptoms
• Sleep disturbance
• Irritability or angry outbursts
• Hypervigilance
• Difficulty concentrating

In addition, these symptoms must cause significant distress or significantly

impair social or occupational functioning. They should not be attributable to
the physiologic effects of a substance-related or another medical disorder.
Episodic acute stress:
• Episodic acute stress is when acute stresses happen on a frequent basis. This can be
because of repeatedly tight work deadlines. It can also be because of the frequent high-
stress situations experienced by some professionals, such as healthcare workers.
• With this type of stress, we don’t get time to return to a relaxed and calm state. And the
effects of the high-frequency acute stresses accumulate.
• It often leaves us feeling like we are moving from one crisis to another.
• There are 2 main personality types that frequently present with Episodic Acute Stress:
1) “Type A” personality (excessive competitive drive, aggressiveness, impatience, abrupt,
and a sense of time urgency)
2) The “Worrier” (presents with almost negative thoughts, core beliefs that the world is a
dangerous, unrewarding, punitive place where something awful is always about to
happen)
“Episodic acute stress leads to more pronounced health issues such as, high blood
pressure and heart disease”.
Chronic (long-term) stress : The stress that lasts for a longer period
of time, for weeks or months. It become chronic when an individual tries to
suppress it. Someone may become used to it and not recognize it as stress or believe
it is a problem. Examples of chronic stress include:
• Financial problems
• Unhappiness in a relationship or marriage Common signs of chronic
stress
• Difficulty at work or school  Decreased energy
• Having a chronic illness  Trouble concentrating
• Problems at home or in your personal life  Difficulty in falling &
staying in sleeping
While acute stress can be thrilling and exciting,  Nervousness & anxiety
chronic stress is not.  Muscles tension
 Aches & pains
Chronic stress destroys bodies, minds and lives.
• Eustress is the form of stress that is positive and beneficial. We may feel
challenged, but the sources of the stress are opportunities that are
meaningful to us. Eustress helps provide us with energy and motivation to
meet our responsibilities and achieve our goals.
• Examples of eustress include graduating from college, getting married,
receiving a promotion, or changing jobs.

• Distress is a continuous experience of feeling overwhelmed, oppressed,

and behind in our responsibilities. This kind of stress is what we want to
avoid and manage, as negative stress makes us worry, feel anxious, and
doubt ourselves.
• Examples of distress include financial difficulties, conflicts in
relationships, excessive obligations, managing a chronic illness, or
experiencing a trauma.
 Causes of stress
• There are many different causes of stress, and each one can affect you
differently. If you can find the root cause of your stress, it can help you
manage and even resolve it. Causes and factors of stress are known
as STRESSORS. There may be responses in the human being due to
the felt stress or inner pressure state. It can be of two types:
 Body responses
 Psychological responses
Moreover, stress is a big problem in the medical field as it contributes
75% of bodily diseases.
 Physical stressor
(Injury, infection, noise,
climate, etc.)

Emotional stressor
Stressors (frustration, conflict,
transition of life, etc.)

Environmental stressor
(social activities, finances,
job, etc.)
 MAJOR
CAUSES OF
STRESS
 Organizational factors
• Workload: due to shortage of staff or time pressor, increasing
responsibilities leads to emotional and physical exhaustion.
• Job content: unpleasant tasks and works of low social value work can
lead to frustration.
• Inadequate staffing: shortage of staff in shift duties leads to extra
work, there will be time pressor to complete the work, can be cause of
stress or burnout.
• Working hours: long unsocial, strict and inflexible duty hours.
• Shift duty patterns: frequent shift duty pattern of odd hours specially
the night duties change the life style and behaviour of the individual.
• Role ambiguity and role conflict: lack of clarity about tasks, unit and
organization is also one of the predictor of stress.
• Lack of career development: Job insecurity, lack of promotional
avenues, lack of opportunity of growth, advancement can cause stress.
• Physical facilities/Environment: inadequate, unpleasant or
dangerous physical facilities, e.g. poor ventilation, lighting,
temperature, crowding, noise, pollution etc. are the stressor at work
place.
• Social environment: lack of support, poor interpersonal relationship
with co-workers etc.
• Ineffective communication: stress can result from a lack of
communication or lack of the right kind of communication at the right
time.
 Personal factors
• Demographic characteristics: the empirical evidences revealed that
age, gender, length of tenure in the job, job area of the individual are
associated with their level of stress.
• Personality: personality and interpersonal behaviour of the individual
associated with various dimension of stress.
• Competency: individual if not competent, may be scared and not
confident to handle the situations will be under stress.
• Lack of preparation: one of the greatest source of stress, leads to
various kind of symptoms such as physical, emotional, psychological
etc.
 Environmental factors
• Environmental stress can be either natural or anthropogenic (i.e., resulting
from human actions) in origin.
• Research consistently shows that environmental stressors that are
uncontrollable or unpredictable cause greater stress in human beings.
• Some common environmental stressors are war, temperature, pollution,
poverty, natural disaster, noise and crowds.
• The environment and mental health and intrinsically connected. The places
where you spend a lot of time—home, work, school, and even socially—can
have a significant impact on your mental well-being.
• Environmental factors impact mental wellness by changing brain
structure and function. Research on children supports this, noting that
children raised in adverse environments tend to have hindered brain
development, increasing their risk of memory issues, learning difficulties, and
behavioral problems.
THANK YOU