WORRY, STRESS AND ANXIETY
WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY DO WE HAVE THEM?
“The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.” - John Vance Cheney
The unknowns of the COVID-19 pandemic are affecting every aspect of our lives. Many of us are suffering from worry, stress and anxiety. I am often confused as to what these terms mean. Why do we have them? Are they a normal part of human psychology or are they early signs of psychological disorder?
Though I am not a psychologist, I would like to try to clarify the meaning of these words, as I see and understand them and try to answer the above-mentioned questions. Before I do that, I think it would be helpful if we refreshed our memory about the brain, the mind and the body relationships in a very short summary, as well as the effects of internal and external stress factors (stressors) on these three vital structures.
Our brain is an anatomical organ. It is composed of 86 billion nerve cells (neurons) and housed inside of our skull. Our brain is connected to every organ in the body via a massive network of nerves. Our brain creates the mind. The mind isn’t an anatomical organ. It is a very hard to understand this abstract concept. How the brain creates the mind is still a mystery. The mind has no boundaries, no timelines. As claimed by some, it does not reside inside of the brain. The mind is responsible for creation of all mental processes, including consciousness, perception, emotions, memory, thought processes, cognition and human psychology. The brain – mind – body are in constant communication with each other with a very complex language of electromagnetic, hormonal and neuro- peptic signals.
Psychological disorders are disorders of the mind, not the brain. The American Psychological Association states that according to a recent survey, more than 80% of adult Americans have reported significantly increased stress reactions in their life due to the current stressful events – the COVID 19 pandemic and its continuously increasing infections and mortality rates (over 200,000), grief, social isolation, collapsing economy, fears, uncertainties and distrust of the government.
It is feared that these long-lasting stressors would have deleterious mental health consequences. Let’s now look at these psychological terminologies more closely.
What is worry? Worry is habitually having negative thoughts of the worst outcome of any event or problems in life. It is a thinking style and a mental character of a person. It is beneficial if it is temporary. It makes you to prepare yourself for the worst outcome. But if it continuous without resolution, then it becomes an abnormal psychological disorder, a part of GAD (generalized anxiety disorder). In these circumstances, professional help is needed for its management.
What is stress? Stress is being and living in a constant state of a “fight-or-flight” reaction. This is an automatic reflex reaction that we all genetically acquired from our ancient hunter/gatherer ancestors. Our ancient ancestors while hunting/gathering always faced the possibility of an attack by wild animals. They had to be instantly ready to face this danger with fight-or-flight reaction. Because there was no time to think to decide what to do so this stress status had to become an automatic spinal reflex. When an external danger (a stressor) is faced, the brain automatically stimulates the P-H-A (pituitary, hypothalamus, adrenal) axis to produce copious amount of stress hormones (adrenalin, cortisol, nor epinephrine) to make the body automatically ready to face the danger. This makes us more alert, energetic and quick. Heart rate and respiration rates increase, the palms become sweaty.
We all face acute stress reaction in our life, for example, when we take an exam or go for a job interview. This a beneficial coping mechanism for success. The stress reaction dissipates when the stressor is over. However, in chronic cases, stress reactions are continuously in fight-or-flight mode and the body continuously produce stress hormones. In these cases, the risk of heart diseases, gastrointestinal disorders or complaints increase, and the immune system is suppressed and weakened. In this situation professional help from experts is needed.
What is anxiety? Anxiety involve negative thinking (cognitive) elements of worry, as well as body’s organs (somatic) elements of stress. However, there is no external stressor to trigger stress reaction.
The stressor is imaginary but it creates the same stress reaction. Sometimes, anxiety presents itself with what is called panic attacks, in which a person develops a sudden episode of fear and terror but often, it only lasts for few minutes.
Occasionally feeling anxious is normal. It is only temporary and it goes away by itself. But being in constant state of anxiety is not normal. It is called GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) and it requires professional help from experts such as a psychologist or psychiatrist.
In conclusion, occasionally with or without any reasons, having a worry, stress or anxiety are a normal part of human physiology and psychology. They are temporary. But in persistent chronic forms, they become serious clinical psychological disorders. In these cases, they need professional help from qualified experts for their management.
