Emotional Stress

The Dangers of Emotional Stress

The dangers of emotional stress lie mainly in the fact that the effects and consequences of an emotionally trying time are vastly unpredictable. Many people report injuring themselves shortly after an emotionally stressful time in their lives or hurting themselves physically in some way after they have recovered from an emotional crisis, such as losing a loved one. This type of emotional stress can be more dangerous than physical stress in that the symptoms are varied and individualized to the particulars of the patient, whereas physical stress signs are more visible and uniform.

Physical stress generally manifests itself in a way that can be monitored by a physician. Patients, for example, experience an accelerated heart rate or loss of some physical faculties in some extreme cases. Stress can cause people to urinate or use the facilities more frequently or fidget. The signs are verifiable and are, generally, common between many different varieties of patients, because physical stress is the body' s way of developing a coping mechanism to manage with sudden, perceived danger.

Emotional stress, on the other hand, is a generally unverifiable designation because of the way it affects our bodies through our mental state. It influences our mentality to the point that our physical states literally can become spastic in approach; dealing with emotional stress can cause some people to contemplate suicide, while it can cause others to merely contemplate eating a bucket of ice cream. Regardless of the output, the input to emotional stress often reflects the individuality that the patient suffers with and, thus, manifests the stress through.

Healthy Stress Relief

When we experience stress, it is important to realize that the variety is as important as the symptoms. Whether we are experiencing emotional or physical stress, we need to be sure of the variations it takes in our bodies and the way in which it affects our various systems in a variety of ways. This information can be used to further explain our symptoms to a physician and help verify what is needed in terms of treatment or assistance. Properly identifying our stress can lead to an identification of our stressors, which can lead to an identification of a coping method that is healthy for our bodies.

Emotional stress is dangerous because of its unpredictability in terms of bodily effects and symptoms. This creates a problem for some medical professionals because they are unsure of what the body is going through and cannot actively pursue a diagnosis based on merely possible information.

(c)  Stress - Tyler's Articles 2006