The deception of stress

             

                       

The damage that stress can do to us has been much reported. Not long ago the media was focused on workplace stress being experienced by States   workers, in particular those working for Health and Education. Much of that focus was on the potential impact of stress on the way they acted with patients and students. 

Last year the UK Health & Safety Executive reported that 43% of all working days lost were due to ill health. It seems unlikely that Jersey’s figures would be much different to this. The impact then, of something so widely experienced is significant. These are important considerations but perhaps they miss a very important element to these news stories. What about the individuals experiencing that stress?

The Stress Management Society make the point that stress is not necessarily a bad thing. It has worked well for humans over the millennia and in large part has been responsible for keeping us alive. Our body’s chemical and physical reaction to stress has got us out of some tricky and often dangerous situations. It is likely, then that society’s response to stress in others is driven by a deep-seated belief that we need to just deal with it.

However, for many stress can stop being useful and become toxic. It is no longer the servant of our need and can become the master bringing with it anxiety and depression, negatively impact our relationships and preventing us from being able to function at work and at home. Being told that stress is part of life is no help and support can be hard to find. That seems odd given how much stress is around us all.

The start to recovery is to acknowledge the stress and accept it isn’t necessarily something to simply deal with, alone. Seek help and begin a path to a healthier way of being.