Stress messes up more than just a person’s mood. The effects and psychological symptoms of stress on a person’s mind and body is extremely alarming. There have been various studies that have proven to drive a stressed out person to the hospital in case of severe brain or heart issues. It is highly hazardous to not deal with stress immediately, as it can cause long-lasting damage to a person and disturb their personal and professional life vastly.
How does stress affects us psychologically?:
Stress effects mood, and psychology deals with mental health. So how does stress affect us psychologically? The answer is simple. Psychology deals with emotions and mood as it is linked with a person’s brain. And brain is the main ■■■■■ that deals with every single action and emotion of a human being. Stress causes a lot of biological and psychological symptoms which will be explained in the next heading. However, the kind of effects that stress has on our mind may seem only temporary to most people. People also consider distracting themselves instead of acknowledging the problem, which takes growth in the mind and becomes worse with time. It slowly goes on to start affecting the mental health by developing mild symptoms of depression, anxiety, or mood disorders. Those psychological symptoms of stress grow and slowly damages the personal, professional, and academic life of a stressed person.
Summary: Stress directly contributes to messing up with our mental health.
For example, if a person has family issues that stresses them out, they would have their focus diverted from their studies or do badly in their job since the bad moments would ■■■■■■■■■ deeply into their mind and cause them to worry. It would also make them lose interest in interacting with people, hence isolating them from their social lives. If things go serious, it can affect their mental health even worse and even cause their blood pressure to increase which can lead to severe heart problems.
Symptoms of stress:
There are various psychological symptoms of stress that can successfully affect a person, some of them are mentioned below:
Biological symptoms of stress:
Biology has a lot to do with stress and its relationship with the human body. For starters, it can cause blood pressure to increase which can prove to be fatal to a person. Moreover, all the psychological or emotional problems have physical symptoms which makes it easier to identify the problem. For instance, psychological effects of stress causes anxiety and anxiety causes rapid heartbeats or palpitations, nausea, cold hands and feet, stuttering, sweating, chest pain, body ache, dizziness, shortness of breath, and in severe cases, nosebleeds. So when stress causes a lot of psychological problems, it shows a lot of biological symptoms like those mentioned below:
- Feeling sad or down.
- Hopelessness.
- Rapid heartbeats.
- Overthinking.
- High blood pressure.
- Headaches.
- Memory loss.
- Shortness of breath.
- Dizziness.
- Fatigue.
- Fainting.
- Panic attacks.
- Anxiety attacks.
- Heart attacks.
- Difficulty in concentrating.
Psychological symptoms of stress:
Stress is directly related to psychological disturbances in the human mind and body. It can make people lose whatever sanity that they have and become severely in need of professional help. A lot of mental health issues arise due to the mild symptoms that we tend to ignore. These symptoms then grow and take place all over the body and mind, hence damaging a person completely. There are several psychological symptoms of stress, some of them are:
- Depression.
- Anxiety.
- Mood disorders.
- Isolation.
- Irritability.
- Agitation.
- Eating disorders.
It is worrisome how unfortunate situations that we tend to not take seriously ends up ruining our mental and physical health.
Emotional symptoms of stress:
Emotions are our way to feel whatever we go through and our body helps us express them. Stress causes us to feel so many emotions that are normally not found. Many emotional symptoms urge a person to adapt harmful habits that in result harms them in one way or other. For example, a person going through a divorce takes up smoking or drinking habits that ends up damaging their lungs or liver. In such a way, stress disturbs our emotions and takes away peace and stability from our lives. Some of the emotional symptoms of stress includes:
- Eating too much or too less/starvation.
- Sleeping too much or too less/insomnia.
- Isolation.
- Drinking.
- Smoking.
- Caffeine abuse.
- Drug abuse.
- Biting nails.
- Excessive cleaning or doing other chores to distract themselves.
- Procrastination.
Dealing with symptoms of stress:
There are a lot of ways to deal with psychological symptoms of stress, and the most important one is to deal with it professionally. Therapy is extremely underrated when it comes to fixing a person’s mental health and it goes a long way in making a person feel healthy internally which then works towards making a person physically healthy. Other ways to deal with stress is maintaining a healthier diet, staying physically active, avoiding alcohol, drugs, caffeine, and tobacco, and learning to process the negative emotions by acknowledging a bad situation. Giving yourself time to mourn or feel upset and then lifting yourself up after you are done helps a lot in keeping a person sane. Also, there are several exercises that ones to perform in stressful situations to avoid the body from feeling too much too soon and giving it the strength to process it all. Exercises like deep-breathing and activities for achieving mindfulness helps distract a person for a few minutes before they address a bad situation. A lot of therapists recommend these exercises to their clients to handle their emotions in a better way.
Summary: Allow yourself to feel sad, but then lift yourself up after you are done mourning to avoid damaging your mental health.
Final Thoughts:
Stress is a common and natural element of life. What matters is how we process and deal with it. Stress can cause several serious mental and physical conditions that might prove to be fatal to us, so we need to understand how to handle them and avoid letting it potentially harm us. Allow yourself to feel and process everything, then move towards healing while prioritizing seeking professional health at the earliest. Finally, keep yourself in check too so you don’t end up being a source of stress for someone else either.
Also visit these links:
How does stress affects us psychologically?
What is cognitive psychology?
What is a positive psychological response to stress?
What is a Diathesis Stress Model of Psychology?
Get to know the psychological symptoms of stress.
Psychological effects of stress on a human body and mind.
FAQs:
Q1: What are the psychological signs of stress?
A: Some of the psychological signs of stress are:
- Bad mood.
- Symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Isolation.
- Insomnia.
- Irritability
Q2: What are the main symptoms of stress?
A: The main symptoms of stress are:
- Nausea.
- Light-headedness.
- Rapid heartbeats.
- Chest pain.
Q3: What are the 5 signs of emotional suffering?
A: The five signs of emotional suffering are:
- Depression.
- Anxiety.
- Lack of self-care.
- Isolation.
- Hopelessness.
Q4: What are the physical and psychological effects of stress?
A: The physical effects of stress are nausea, headaches, and disturbed sleep and digestive issues. The psychological effects of stress are depression, anxiety, and sometimes disorganized behavior.