Mental health issues that are caused by stress can range from homicidal or other violent acts towards oneself or drive others to addictions. The range of mental health disorders that are stress related is so broad that it can be difficult to understand how two situations fall in the same category. The days of shock therapy are gone for the most part, but it still is used for certain mental illnesses. Gone, too, is the routine procedure of frontal lobotomies to calm patients into total submissiveness.

A large key to dealing with stress related mental health issues is to know how to relieve stress. We now understand that men who are returning from wars endure thoughts and images that affect them in ways that we have only begun to be aware of. Post traumatic stress disorder which is caused by stress can affect victims of abuse and violence of all types. Only recently have we begun to understand how traumatic events can affect the people who survive them.

Despite the many types of mental health disorders that currently exist because of stress, some of them tend to be much more common than others. Mental health disorders are not discriminatory and affect everyone. They do not choose specific people or races to affect. Mental health disorders are equal opportunity problems. These disorders have been proven to be hereditary in some cases but that is the closest generalization that you can expect.

A very common mental illness that is caused by stress is manic/chronic depressive disorder. This is characterized by extreme highs and lows in moods for no apparent reason. Sufferers are irrational and quick to change, in terms of mood. For example, if you suffer from this disorder you are happy—very happy or sad—very sad for no apparent reason. Stress is a major cause of this problem.

Eating disorders, which are also quite common, include anorexia (not eating), and bulimia (binging and purging) are also caused by stress that arises from self esteem. Anxiety disorders are characterized by having an irrational dread of living one’s life, to the point where it is incapacitating.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a form of anxiety disorder where a person obsesses (thinks about) and is compulsive (does) about a particular action such as washing their hands, to the point where he or she repeats this action an inordinate amount of times. Stress is a major aspect of our lives and can lead to serious mental problems if not taken under control. Learning to contain stress can lead to your overall health.

Nervous breakdown occurs when a person is suffering from severe stress for a very long time. There is a sudden change in the behavioural pattern of the person. A person with nervous breakdown is unable to perform his normal duties as done by him earlier.

Some other individuals might experience uncontrollable need to cry, loss of energy, withdrawal, confusion, inability to think clearly, sleep disruption or insomnia and a loss of pleasure in day to day activities, a feeling of worthlessness and depression.

These symptoms are termed as the depressive disorders.

Effects of Stress, Anxiety and depression on mental health

Whatever is the reason of the breakdown; all the breakdowns have in common- the inability to function as normal. The person suffering from nervous breakdown is actually suffering from some sort of mental disorder. Stress, depression and anxiety are all responsible and are related to the mental disorders.

The increase of stress, depression, anxiety levels leads to nervous breakdown. The symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety are lack of energy, exhaustion, trembling hands, disturbed sleeping patterns, excessive worries, irritability, isolation, panic, worthless feelings, guilt, headache, muscle pain, increased heartbeat, loss of sex drive and loss of appetite.

Lack of energy is one of the most common symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety. Even after trying hard to get energized a person cannot achieve that. All finally results in lesser energetic feeling and accounts to lesser motivation level. In a person suffering from stress, depression is mentally exhaustive and hence he is unable to perform his day to day activities normally. No matter even if he takes rest for long hours, he feels exhausted all the time. The trembling symptom is also one of the features of stress and anxiety.

Effects of the stressful situations

When a person is in a stressful situation the body flows with the powerful chemicals such as the adrenaline. There is a change in the sleeping pattern when the person will tend to sleep too much or sleep only for few hours. Once the stress level decreases then the nightmares will disappear. Excessive worry is another symptom of anxiety, stress even for smallest events in life. The person feels negative about every situation.

The sufferers often feel like being alone as they feel awkward around others and rather are alone to avoid this feeling. Loss of appetite is one of the most common features. Reducing food intake further affects energy levels and deprives the body of nourishment, further aggravates stress, depression and anxiety. All these stressful experiences tend to make a person mentally weak and thus, this leads to mental breakdown.

A person exposed to long-term, unrelenting severe stress is particularly susceptible to experiencing a ‘ mental breakdown. Stress can be defined as the condition or the situations that disturb the normal functioning of physical and mental health of an individual. In the present scenario every person is bound to be effected by certain amount of stress.

In extreme stress conditions which are harmful to human health but a moderate amount of stress is acceptable. There are a number of reasons that causes stress and the symptoms of stress and depression that people face in the present world of rapid diversification of human activities.

Everybody is bound to face certain amount of stress in their life. The demands relating to relationships, physical demands, pressure at workplaces, meeting deadlines, the tension that grows and all these conditions and situations are the cause for stress.

In some people this stress has a long term effect and tends to persist and intensify. Hence learning to understand and master the stress management techniques will help to prevent the effects of depression. The stress hormones namely the cortisone and adrenaline are released to fight the stressful situations.

Hormones and its effect on stress

These hormones increase the blood pressure and the body is prepared to react to the situations accordingly. This stress hormone in the blood is used and it results in the reduction of stress effects and the symptoms of anxiety. When a person under the stress condition fails to respond to the stress situations the hormones remain unreleased in the blood stream for prolonged period of time.

These result in the stress related symptoms such as the tense muscles, non-focused anxiety, dizziness and the heart beat increases rapidly. The state of accumulation of stress can increase the risk of both acute and chronic and mental illness like nervous breakdown and also weaken the immune system of the body.

Stress has number of bad effects on the body, problems like headaches, irritable bowel symptoms, eating disorder, allergies, asthma, diabetes, heart elements, frequent colds and fatigue. Every person is bound to face certain stressful situation in some point or the other but in some people it intensifies and sometimes persists. Managing stress can definitely help one from the bad effects of stress that leads to mental disorders in some.

Methods of stress reduction

There are a number of methods to reduce stress and the most sensible way is to change our lifestyle. Trying to be relaxed and practice the relaxation techniques such as meditation, physical exercises, listening to soothing music, deep breathing and various natural and alternative methods.

One can work a stress condition to one’s advantage or to protect oneself from its untoward follow-throughs, subject to how we handle a stress situation. The choice is between becoming a slave to the stressful situations of life and using them to our advantage.

When too much of stress sets in a person, there are possibilities that he will stop functioning normally. A person is exposed to an unrelenting severe stress is bound to experience a breakdown. This can be observed by his behavior. The main feature of a breakdown usually involves some sudden breakdown in the thinking process of that person.

This means that an individual who usually follows a set pattern of behaviors will suddenly break away from their routine. Person day to day duties are affected and become worst as days pass.

The person with mental breakdown tends to lose the interest and the ability to function as a normal person. He tries to avoid communicating with his family and friends. At times, they are even unable to eat or even dress properly. It is thus obvious that this person is experiencing a nervous breakdown.

Effect of stress on mental health

Sometimes severe stress, anxiety and depression can lead to mental disorders in people. Modern life is full of tensions and worries. Stress at some point of life is bound to set in. Once this stress goes on increasing there is a possibility that the person might suffer from some mental and physical abnormalities.

Stress management and stress relief are some of the stress reducing techniques that people follow these days to reduce the stress levels.

One cannot avoid or ignore stress in one’s life. One may be suffering from stress due to various reasons that include work pressure, changing weather, relationships, financial problems and family. It has been found that almost every person is stressed due to one or more of the above reasons. To achieve stress relief, stress management has become really important.

Stress is not a disease but you should consider this fact that in today’s scenario, stress is the root cause of some major health hazards. Depression, acidity and even heart attack are rooted in stress. Stress relief will definitely decrease the chances of these ailments.

Experts are of the opinion that stress reduction is in our hands. There are a number of stress reducing institutions that help people suffering from stress and help one in getting relief from stress and let the body and mind relax.

Tips to reduce stress

Exercise regularly because when a person exercises the body is relaxed. Maintain a balance between rest and work. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables and a proper diet as it is essential for effective stress management.

Communication is another important thing. By talking to others one can share the thoughts and feelings with family and friends and this has always helped in the reduction of stress.

Even if you are all alone the stress increases.Prayers and meditation are some of the best techniques of stress reduction. Many people are being benefited from this as it helps one to pacify one’s mind and relax. There are different levels of stress and it’s always better to get rid of this problem until it reaches to a graver level and requires a treatment.

How does stress affect health? Stress is a major element of being human — a state of bodily or mental tensions resulting from factors that tend to alter an existing balance.

Everyday we are faced with struggles, hardships and angst in our home, school or workplace that are all complementary components of stress. It would be rare for anyone not to undergo this kind of state every once in a while.

In this day and age, the question ‘How does stress affect health?” has brought tremendous concern for most of us, and it has been an increasingly talked about issue.

Stress is the body’s response to certain environmental changes. In relation to our health, this is any factor that may have an adverse consequence on our body and its proper functioning.

Eustress vs. Distress

According to Hans Selye, a well-known endocrinologist in the early 1930’s, not all types of stress are detrimental; thus, he came up with eustress and distress.

We all do undergo mild, brief and controllable moments of nervous tension that are considered to be common, and act as positive stimuli towards a person’s intellectual and emotional growth. Selye termed these eustress.

He defined distress to be something of the opposite and is characterized by severe physical and psychological distress that is disruptive to general health.

The physiological effects of distress on the body include:

- chest pain
- insomnia or sleep problems
- constant head aches
- hypertension
- ulcers

Stress is said to be a contributory factor to the production of a certain disease, or it may be the cause of negative behavioral response, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and drug abuse – all of which may make us susceptible to diseases. It can adversely influence the immune system, thereby causing our body to be less resilient to a number of health problems.

Stressors versus Response

To know how does stress affect health, you should understand the triggers. Stressors are events or environmental agents directly responsible for the body’s stress response.

On the other hand, stress response would mean how we react to these stressors and are intended to protect us against the threats they might bring. They can be physical, emotional, or mental reactions, or even all of them.

Adapting To Stressful Factors As A Way to Fight Stress

Our ability to adapt to these stressors has greatly helped us combat the detrimental effects.

Knowing how does stress affect health can help you manage better. Coping can be negative or positive. An example would be when a person is faced with a serious emotional distress because of a death of a love one. He can either cope with such loss positively by directing his thoughts towards more meaningful things that would help ease the pain, or he can cope with the loss negatively by maintaining an unhealthy eating habit and even threatening serious injury to himself.

How to Combat Stress

Studies and research tell us that treatment should be directed towards helping a person cope positively with its known adverse effects. After knowing how does stress affect health, you need to adopt some stress-reducing strategies:

1) Relaxation.

Mental and muscle relaxation are good ways to relieve tension. Too much muscle activity can bring forth anxiety and strain.

2) Massage Therapy.

Gentle strokes and application of pressure along the length of our body helps alleviate physical strain and muscle tension.

3) Scenic imagery.

In this kind of strategy a person is asked to sit and close his eyes and focus on a scene that is asked of him, usually by a therapist.

4) Music Therapy.

This involves listening to selected music as a means of reducing feelings of pain, loneliness and anxiety. Certain rhythms of selected music are said to harmonize with bodily rhythms, like heart and respiratory functions.

Depending on how does stress affect health, you get to choose the proper methods for relief.