Stress comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes stress can save our lives and sometimes stress can inhibit our body’s basic functions causing damage to multiple systems. Short-term stress is usually not cause for concern since most everyone will experience a stressful situation one time or another. Chronic stress is the type of stress that is cause for concern. Chronic stress can lead to many negative effects with in the body such as a suppressed immune system, over active HPA axis, which can cause internal tissue damage, and eventually lead to mental illness. Some studies have shown sex has a large part in who develops stress related illnesses.
Girls and women have been shown to have higher rates of stress-induced mental illnesses (Anderson, 2009). Women are also more likely to have social anxiety disorders than men (Anderson, 2009). This has been said to be due to women experiencing more traumatic events such as rape, or domestic violence (Anderson, 2009). This does not mean men do no get anxiety disorders, but they are less likely.
Stress can also make a work environment very hard to work in. When there is stress in the work place, a group setting, then productivity will go down. I remember when I bartended I had a regular who would be paid to go into a work place and help increase productivity by solving what ever social problems the employees had. His largest project was in Portland, OR. He described most of the tension being due to poor communication between administration and the workers, and when something would go wrong the administration would have harsh penalties. The problem was the administration wasn’t giving their employees good direction. It wasn’t until I started taking this call that I realized he followed the step of intervention almost perfectly.
It is extremely important to maintain stress levels not just for health reasons but also for social and mental reasons. Lower stress levels keep the immune system happy, helps keep the mind happy, and helps with relationships. Social psychology has the potential to relieve stress from everyday lives if used correctly especially in the work place.
Works Cited
Anderson, & McLean. (2009). Brave men and timid women? Clinical Psychology Review.
Tags: Applied social psychology, health, stress