The Many Faces of Stress

Basically, there are three known types of stress: acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress. However, a fourth kind – psychological stress – is also becoming more prevalent and is considered as a legitimate type of stress.

Acute Stress

This is the most common form of stress, which results from the pressures one is subjected to in their everyday life. In small doses of acute stress, it can actually be beneficial to an individual. Think of athletes that are about to compete in an event. They experience acute stress, which triggers the production of adrenaline and giving them a burst of energy needed to perform their best.

The symptoms for this type of stress are easily recognizable and mostly affects a person only in a short term. Common symptoms include back or neck pain, muscular tensions, headache, rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, cold hands or feet.

As mentioned above, acute stress is quite common to most people. However, there are a few others who experience it more often than others. These people are the ones who are so focused on achieving organization and yet always fail when it comes to performance. Therefore, it is not surprising that they often become irritable, if not with themselves then their initial environment. This also explains why they find the workplace quite a stressful environment.

Other forms of episodic acute stress are those people who keep worrying. They have become so pessimistic about the environment that they always project something wrong would happen. Hence, they end up feeling awful, tense, or anxious without having clear reasons for feeling that way.

This is the type of stress that wears one out. Plus, it builds up over time and can produce long-term effects on a person, whether emotionally or physically. Most forms of chronic stress are caused by trauma that they find difficult to let go and so it continues to disrupt their everyday lives.