Stress: Whatever Doesn’t Kill You Does Make You Stronger

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Clinical depression is diagnosed in one out of every eight Denver resident and three in ten of Denver’s kids.¹  This is why we have written articles with an updated view on what depression is over the last six months.  Instead of the commonly stigmatized interpretation that people experience depression because they are not trying or just don’t want to be happy, we offer the science-driven theory that depression is actually a consequence of prolonged stress.  

So what is stress?  Stress is the body’s normal physical and psychological response to any sort of demand, challenge or threat, real or imagined.  The “flight or fight” response rapidly kicks into high gear as a protective response in real emergency situations. It keeps you alert, focused and energetic so you can fend for your life or motivate you to rise to meet a challenge.  Symptoms of stress include sweating, pressure in the chest, difficulty breathing, erectile dysfunction and low libido, fainting, headache, high blood pressure, getting sick frequently, muscle cramps and aches, nervous twitches, pins and needles, sleeping difficulties, and stomach problems. 

There are three types of stress, positive, tolerable, and toxic.  Eustress or positive stress is a normal and essential part of healthy development, characterized by brief increases in blood pressure, heart rate and mild increases in stress hormone levels, like cortisol. Because this type of stress is short-term and perceived as within our coping abilities, it helps us feel excited about life, perform well, and work toward goals. Positive stress can include, meeting new people, doing or learning something new.  Tolerable stress results from more severe, longer-lasting difficulties that activate the body’s alert systems and can include, illness or death of a loved one, a natural disaster, or divorce. As with eustress, if tolerable stress occurs within a time-limited period and is buffered by supportive relationships that facilitate adaptive coping, the brain and the body can recover from potentially damaging effects. When neither of these conditions exist, however, toxic stress arises causing detrimental short- and long-term physical and mental health consequences.

Not all stress is bad. Some researchers have demonstrated that small doses of stress can, in fact, be healthy.  Think about how vaccinations work. Inoculation with small doses of an infectious bug builds immunity to disease.  Exposure to manageable stress, with recovery in between, builds mentally and physically toughness and resilience against future stress.  A 2010 study conducted by Mark D. Seery and colleagues found that individuals who have had some lifetime adversity reported better mental health and well-being than those who experienced high adversity or no adversity in their life.²

How do you know if the stress you are experiencing is healthy or not?  Healthy stress is short-lived and when it passes, a sense of relief, elation or even accomplishment ensues.  Unhealthy toxic stress wears you down gradually and this is when you start to see the emergence of depression symptoms, such as crying spells, irritability or anger outbursts, chronic fatigue, loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities, a sense of hopelessness, and physical aches and pains.

Bibliography

1. Denver Public Health. (2018) Depression in Denver: Through the Lifespan.

2. Seery, M. D., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C. (2010). Whatever does not kill us: Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 1025-1041.