Link between Stress and Illness - Coursework Example

?Link between Stress and Illness Introduction There are moments in life that tend to exert pressure to an organism’s mental and cause him/her to be in a state of sorrow which in chronic state turns to depression and this makes the individual to be at a high risk of developing an illness. When an individual is introduced to drastic change of events, it may bring alterations on behaviour or biological processes of individuals to cause onset of disease. Chronic or long term stress has the capacity to expose an individual to develop illness because it causes permanent or prolonged psychological, biological, and behavioral reactions that facilitate development of illness (Despaus, 1999). Definition of terms Illness This is a state whereby a body experiences an altered feeling from the usual wellbeing and there seems to be a state of discomfort either externally or internally. This is a factor brought by the varied changes in environmental conditions and the diversity of the germs that we encounter each day. It has been observed that individual ability to succumb to an illness or resist it is more of psychological than actual attack, however this phenomenon varies with individuals. Existence of germs exposes persons to high possibility of contracting the illness but studies believe that the intensity of an illness is powered by the fear within you. Factors that trigger one to become ill are drastic change of events, inability to achieve dreams/aspirations and the societal expectations that tend to discriminate and stigmatize persons bearing some unusual condition (Despaus, 1999). Stress Stress is an undesirable trait that manifests in an individual or an organism when it is subjected to drastic or unusual change in its social, economic and also political situations. If an organism has difficulty in adapting to or accepting the way things are or certain change of events and environment, it encounters a negative reaction that causes the brain to actively and over reactively engage itself in trying to find the solutions to perceived problems or those which truly exist. In that instance, the situation triggers biological reactions to attempt to combat the situation through production of hormones which in some cases cause some systems to counter react and hence lead to failures .For instance, too much stress is associated with stomach ulcers (Despaus, 1999). Relationship between stress and illness According to a research conducted by the American Sociological Association, there is a mutual relationship between the level and the persistence of stress turning into an illness .There are instances whereby people frequently visit medical institutions to get diagnosis of illnesses they perceive rather than those they actually suffer from. The research further outlines that there is the tendency to assume the state of being sick if a person visits the health practitioner more than once without being able to manage the stress. The difficulty encountered by an individual when adapting to a drastic change in a situation or environment will traumatize the person and subject him/her to a state of disbelief and constant thoughts of how and why that could have happened and perhaps even why at that time. Again the research shows that the stress is made worse when an individual can’t seem to see a way out of the situation and the expectations he/she has are proving hard to meet either socially or economically (Mechanic & Volkart, 2007). If Stress persists after seeking assistance or any form of assistance meant to lessen the impact, the condition advances to another phase whereby individual’s ability to feel sorry for himself/herself declines and he becomes more nervous. Finally, if the stress continues and the body is unable to cope with it, the body assumes an active role and tends to fight back and a lot of its active minerals are used up while trying to combat the situation which makes the brain more depressed (Despaus, 1999). According to the Australian researchers from Sydney’s Garvan Institute, there is a mutual relationship between stress and illness whether mild or chronic. Their research found out that when an individual is in a state of stress, a hormone is secreted that dilapidates the body’s immune system and eventually compromises the organism’s wellbeing. When an organism is stressed the brain triggers the nerves to secrete hormones or in some cases enzymes into the blood stream and the body system respectively thereby inhibiting the cell formation and growth and in cases such as ulcers it damages the existing cells by fighting against them or by digesting the stomach walls (Sydney Garvan Institute, 2010). According to health psychology research, if you happen to express or show unusual signs in front of a friend and he expresses his/her opinion to insinuate that you may have to seek medical advice or he associates the symptoms with another patient’s illness /condition you will be stressed and want to find out what that could mean if it truly turns to be an illness. This will subject the person to begin thinking about what that illness could be, if medical diagnosis will show that he/she is infected, how the illness will affect the social, economic and health/fitness and eventually the duration with which the illness will prolong (Zi, 2005). Minor illnesses are associated with social factors that impact on the mental state causing psychological stressors, too much work, private limitations, organizational tension and career restriction are but a few of the factors. Stressed patients develop escapism in the form of virtual absenteeism whereby the person may be present, but he is not well to perform and thus is virtually absent because his concentration is constantly shifting and is in a state of mood swing whereby he cannot be predicted upon (Woo, 1999). According to a research conducted in Kenya by the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse, stress is responsible for the persistent increase in drug abuse because persons engaged tend to take drugs to cover up on their emotional problems because the drugs create virtual feelings that tend to relax the patient .These drugs however act by changing the functioning of the brain and cause depression to the person abusing the drugs. This stress further tends to weaken the restrictors that are meant to guard against behaviour and the person becomes less restrained. The research has stated that although the drug abuser is drunk with drugs, those people who mind about his state are drunk with the consequences that the drugs subject him/her to. In trying to cope bio-medically, most of the persons close to the victim may suffer medical complications such as high blood pressure, ulcers, depression, and stress. The family may suffer physical abuse, assault, negligence, child abuse, isolation, rejection and confusion and in many instances when the victim perpetrates a crime, he will be first checked if he /she is of good mental state or was suffering from a mental illness (Kimani, 2006). Stress causes illness in an indirect manner in that the person who’s suffering from stress may have a loss of appetite for the meals and because the body depends on nutrients to fight illnesses then the person becomes malnourished and therefore the immune system is weakened. The stress doesn’t allow an individual to have a peaceful sleep which is good for cell formation and growth mostly in small children (Galvez, 2005). According to the National cancer institute fact sheet, different Studies have been contradicting themselves and producing varied results. These researches have always shown that there is a link between stress and increased risk of developing cancer but there has not been a proven reason as to how that really happens. However, the similarities of the researches are that chronic stress weakens a person’s immune system, which in turn may increase growth and development of virus-associated with developing cancers (National institute of health, 2008). The stressful events impact on the health and it depends with the individual’s ability to cope with the stressors. Stress has the capacity to subject the individual to adopt some habits that are harmful to the health e.g. smoking, alcohol which weaken their immune system or even cause them to get injuries (Stroebe, 2000) Conclusion There is a mutual relationship between the ability of stress to manifest and cause illness although it is not a direct causal agent. A lot of research that has been carried out has shown evidence suggesting that several factors facilitate the stress–illness link. Lack of exercise which may weaken the body structure and increase the fat retention in the body and lead to the constriction of the blood vessels thus causing heart attacks, coping styles which include trying to find why the situation is happening, how to prevent it from advancing and accepting that yours is much better than another person’s, adjusting to life events may be challenging more so if it involves a drastic change which may subject one to acute state of depression and eventually cause illness, personality type stress related factors that tend to undermine the way individuals think highly of themselves in respect to the social status, lack of social support which leads to depression and discrimination and eventually the patient experiences actual or perceived loss of control which renders him/herself helpless. Stress can be prevented from affecting wellbeing by managing behavioral and physiological avenues including having regular and sufficient sleep, proper diet intake and avoid alcohol consumption so that the body can detoxify itself (Zi, 2005). REFFERENCES Despaus, D. (1999). Stress and illness. Retrieved 2 14, 2012, from california state university: http://www.csun.edu Galvez, R. E. (2005). Free from drugs and addictions. Madrid: Editorial Safeliz. BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Kimani, J. (2006). Drug and substance abuse in tertiary institutions in kenya. Nairobi: Kenya Institute of Public Policy and Research. National institute of health. (2008). Psyschological stess and cancer. National Cancer Institute. Stroebe, W. (2000). Social psychology and health. Buckingham: Open university press. Sydney Garvan Institute. (2010, 6 ,13). Australian research confirms link between stress and illness. Retrieved 2 14, 2012, from Alphabiotic Life Enhancement Center: http://www.alphabiotic.wordpress.com Volkart,E.H &Mechanic, D. V. (2OO7)." Stress sickness behaviour and the sick role". American Sociological Review .Vol 26. BIBLIOGRAPHY Woo M, A. L. (1999). The relationship between stress and absenteeism. singapore medical journal . Vol 40. Zi, P. Y. (2005, 1 ,2). Health Psychology 19. Read More