Contrary to popular belief there is a difference between stress and anxiety.
Stress is usually used to describe feelings that people experience when demands made on them are greater. Stress can be looked at in terms of external and internal stressors. External stressors include traumas, life experience, or daily hassles. Internal stressors are feelings inside us such as feeling uneasy.
Stress is a response to a specific stressor, anxiety has no identifiable root and is considered a legitimate mental disorder. Anxiety often comes from a place of fear, stress comes from pressures of everyday life. If we are pushed by work or any other task that puts undue pressure on our minds our body releases adrenaline, anxiety often causes fear and emotions.
Anxiety is stress that continues after the stressor has gone. Anxiety is often accompanied by feelings of impending doom. Stress is how our bodies react to something which upsets us.
Constant aches and pains and chronic fatigue can all be signs that our body is under stress. Some people are more susceptible than others to stress.
Some people thrive on stress by becoming highly productive, being driven by the force of pressure.
Anxiety, on the other hand, can interfere with normal life and when excessive can be associated with psychiatric conditions such as depression and is considered abnormal when it interferes with everyday activities.
DIY Self Diagnosis of stress
If you answer five or more you may have stress.
Obesity or overeating.
Substance miss-use.
Increased coffee consumption
Loss of appetite.
Increased and suppressed anger.
Not able to cope with life.
Decreased sex drive/libido.
Nail biting.
If you are suffering from stress or anxiety it is important to see your Doctor to get a proper diagnosis.
Claudette is a passionate campaigner and activist for mental health stigma and domestic abuse. She believes that everyone should be treated equally regardless of their disability or gender. She has diagnoses of Bipolar Disorder, endometriosis, Chronic Fatigue, and Fibromyalgia. Claudette has a certificate in Management studies. Her interests include beauty, makeup, animals politics, current affairs and social networking.
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Defying Shadows 