Архив рубрики «Типы сахарного диабета.»
Ordinary stress is pressure exerted on us in our normal daily life. My car breaks down, my boss misunderstands me, I lose some money in my investment, 1 have an argument with my friend, I am going to sit an important examination tomorrow, and so on; these are normal events that we may have everyday. I am jealous, I am disappointed, I regret, I am frustrated, I feel guilty, I am frightened, and so on; these are feelings and reactions we can have in our everyday lives.
When we are under stress, a normal reacting mechanism in our body works to counteract the stress applied to us. Our body feels threatened, and we put ourselves on battle alert. We respond in two ways: with a biological reaction and with a psychological reaction. These two ways go hand in hand with each other, and both are protective mechanisms against the threat of imminent danger.
Psychological reaction. One of the things that makes us human is that we possess a unique psychological reaction to stress. We automatically protect our psyche; we deny what is going to happen. Denial of the existence of the stress is a normal common defence mechanism. A sense of disbelief is not uncommon. We feel anxious and sad at the same time. We are no longer sleepy, our brain is on full alert, unable to switch off, and is ready for the challenge. In fact we are wide awake. We magnify and exaggerate the stress, so that the stress in question
occupies every part of our mind. It is as if we are carrying a magnifying glass and examining the issue in detail all the time. So it is psychologically normal to exaggerate and to blow things out of all proportion when we are under stress. We will not let go until the issue is resolved.
The psychological reaction is useful as long as we do not suffer from it, but repeated exposure to stress can result in psychological illness, such as chronic insomnia, anxiety, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and even alcoholism. Were we all like coconuts, ordinary stress would have no effect on us. However, there are very few coconuts around. Psychologists have noticed that there are certain kinds of personalities that react excessively to stress. These are the perfectionists, who expect the real world to be perfect and strive for 100 per cent all of the time. If they feel that anything is not up to their expectation, they feel very stressed.
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