Essay 20: The Basic Concept Of Stress.

 The Basic Concept Of Stress.

Throughout history, as the technology develops, human beings’ life has dramatically changed into a much more modern, convenient and luxurious environment. However, the more the changes take place, the more people nowadays are suffering from mental pressure. Rooting from a fast-paced, highly-demanding lifestyle, stress is now a popular symptom among the white-collars, and may expand to other classes of the society. Being a serious mental condition, still stress has not received enough attention and is not a well-defined term among us.

Stress is a term that usually refers to the state of being under pressure caused by difficulties (mentally). But over the years, especially recently, this word is used to describe a biological state of human’s body in response to constant mental challenges or pressures that an individual have to put up with. According to Wikipedia, “according to the stressful event, the body’s way to response to stress is by the sympathetic nervous system which results in the Flight-or-Flight response”. In other words, stress is a mental problem of human relating to the overload of heavy burdens derived from work, daily life and other activities.

It was not until the late 1920s that the term stress was known and used among mankind. The article from Wikipedia wrote “In the 1920s and the 1930s, the term was occasionally being used in biological and psychological circles to refer to a mental strain or a harmful environmental agent that could cause illness”. Stress can be divided into two types which are eustress and distress, the two represent contrasting impact on human’s mind. Eustress refers to “stress enhancing functions” in a positive way, while distress refers to “persistent stress that is not resolved through coping or adaptation and may lead to anxiety or withdrawal”, which means a negative effect. Although there are two types of stress, the term “stress” is mainly used as a way to express the negative impact on people’s minds rather than a positive one.

In conclusion, despite the fact that stress is not known and understood thoroughly among the society, we should find sources of trustworthy information to have a better view towards this problem of modernization, thus have better solutions to cope with it in the most effective way. It is not only an urgent call, but a must for us to know how to get rid of this condition that is destroying a lot of people’s lives.