Chronic Stress

A silent and painful killer...

chronic stress

A great number of Americans today are suffering with an insidious plague called chronic stress, not exactly the bacterium Yersinia pestis (bubonic plague) that struck and killed a third of the European population in the 1300s, but, for many, just as virulent.

An estimated 70% to 90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related problems and illnesses, according to the American Institute of Stress (AIS). Scientists link stress to hypertension, weakened immune systems, muscle pain and swelling, heart disease, stroke, cancer, back pain, headaches, abdominal pain, among other conditions.

In addition, the AIS website states, one million U.S. workers miss work every day as a result of stress.

Stressed-out coworkers, bosses, spouses, and partners spread stress to others, as they exhibit their stress through irritability, short tempers, and continual negativity. This in turn causes others to be stressed, making stress as contagious as viruses and bacteria.

Chronic means always there, persistent, ongoing, and long lasting. Therefore chronic stress identifies a stressful situation or situations that never go away, that continuously assault the mind and body with damaging and deadly physiological reactions.

These reactions are caused by the fight or flight responses that once kept individuals safe from attacking bears and lions, but in today’s world are locked into an “on” position because of the effect of stress on the sympathetic nervous system. Stress keeps adrenaline, cortisol, and other stress hormones pumping throughout the body – chemicals that need to dissipate in order to return the body to homeostasis. (See article The Effects of Stress.)

Common sources of stress

There are many sources of chronic stress, including:

  • Troubled relationships and marriages
  • Serious health problems
  • Care of elderly parents
  • Concern over physical or mental health disorders of children or spouses
  • Workplace stress
  • Living in poverty
  • Violent neighborhoods
  • Financial worries

The way that chronic stress affects individuals is highly personal, meaning that identical stressful situations will not result in two people responding in the same manner. Life and death situations, for example, as experienced by two police officers does not mean each officer will develop identical stress-related problems - or will even develop problems.

Researchers studying chronic stress have tried identifying reasons why chronic stress affects some individuals more than others. But there isn’t one easily identifiable cause or reason. Instead what researchers have found is that a number of factors play a part in how individuals react to stress, factors that include how their parents or caregivers reacted to stress, the severity of the stressor, the presence of underlying mental health disorders or physical illnesses, and the availability of social networks that provide needed support.

However researchers studying job stress – one of the most prevalent causes of chronic stress – discovered a critical link to developing chronic job stress. The AIS states that the number of demands made on individuals, and their sense of control or ability to make decisions about those demands determines the severity of stress experienced by workers.

Studies show that those in highly demanding jobs but having little control have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. And the issue of control appears to be linked to other areas of chronic stress as well.

Those living in poverty, for instance, feel as if they haven’t any power to pull themselves out of their socioeconomic class. Or those who care for aging parents must also work and raise their own children creating layers of possible stressors.

Putting stress into context is almost impossible in complex circumstances, requiring the expertise of a trained mental health professional. Counselors and therapists trained in stress management provide the needed guidance for those overwhelmed with perpetual, unrelenting stress.

If you want to help others deal with chronic stress, consider a career as a mental health counselor.

To work as a mental health counselor, at least a master’s degree is required. Most states also require the taking of licensing test. For more information, contact schools offering degrees in Mental Health counseling or psychology.

Chronic Stress Linked to Brain Rewiring

A Portugal brain researcher discovered how intense stress rewired the brain of rats, suggesting similar effects on human brains.

In a 2009 article in Science, Nuno Sousa and colleagues at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute at the University of Minho in Portugal, wrote how they imposed chronic stressors on rats by inducing electric shocks, encaging rats with dominant rats (bullies), and repeatedly dunking the rats in water.

This stress continued for an extended period, and then the researchers compared the stressed rats with nonstressed rats. In terms of neuronal circuitry, areas of the rats’ brains devoted to executive decision-making and goal-directed behaviors had been reduced. But the neuronal circuitry relegated to forming habits had expanded.

The researchers linked this finding to the rats’ behaviors. The stressed rats still learned how to press a bar to receive a food pellet, yet they couldn’t halt the pressing of the bar – even when they were no longer hungry and didn’t need any more pellets.

In other words, the chronically stressed rats formed useless habits at a much higher rate than nonstressed rats.

This research has important implications for studying the effects of chronic stress on both the brain and corresponding behaviors. Scientists observe how humans in situations of chronic stress fall victim to habits, perhaps unhealthy or unproductive habits, rather than look for alternatives, or changing course.

The researchers also discovered that when the stressed rats were given a reprieve from the stressors the brain areas relegated to decision-making and goal-directed behaviors grew new neuronal circuits, and the overgrown habit-forming area had shrunk.

This finding perhaps points to the most promising aspect of the research: brains change in negative ways when exposed to chronic stress, yet they have the ability to change again – in positive ways - when stress lessens.