Stress Addiction and Recovery - Assignment Example

The main changes within the body produced by stress are a release of excess hormones, adrenalin, and cortisol, which are initially released to provide extra energy to the body and muscles through an excess release of glucose. When stress continues, these hormones persist but with not much-combating activity; eventually, this condition leads to an excess release of glucose and gets accumulated as fat. At this stage, the body starts resisting any action on glucose due to excessive fat and develops insulin resistance and increased blood pressure (Reade, 1997).

In chronic stress conditions, when the body resists normal metabolic functions, the person’s psychological status is disturbed. In order to regain internal balance, such people adopt addiction as a means. This behavior further depends upon the personality types and situations. The relapse of addictive behaviors is a bigger challenge faced by many people who are under chronic stress. This has been specifically noticed with respect to psychosocial characteristics. Psychiatrists recommend improvement in psychosocial domains such as coping skills, social networks, perceived ability to tolerate relapse-risk situations through effective cognitive and behavioral interventions will help prevention of relapse even in highly stressful conditions (Brown et al, 1995).