What are the differences between eustress, distress and stress?

A review of the keys to distinguish between the concepts of stress, eustress and distress.

In popular parlance, it is common to hear that stress is a bad thing. This emotion is usually associated with anguish, discomfort and dysfunction, synonymous with the fact that it is a bad emotion.

The truth is that stress is not so bad. In fact, if we take an evolutionary point of view, there must be some reason for this emotion to have remained in our species. It must have an adaptive factor, something good.

Because of this, some people prefer to talk about eustress and distress rather than just stress, and that is precisely what we are going to talk about next. Here we are going to see what are the main differences between eustress, distress and stressWe will highlight the definitions of these three terms.

The differences between stress, distress and eustress (explained).

In our everyday language we tend to use the word "stress" attributing to it a negative meaning. This This has led to the belief that all stress is bad, which is not entirely true.. Stress is an emotion like any other and the fact that we humans show it is because, throughout the evolutionary history of our species, it has been useful to show this response to certain stimuli. Stress is simply the body's response to changes that create very exacting demands.

We can differentiate between different types of stress, something raised by Richard S. Lazarus (1922-2002) who, based on the work of Hans Selye (1907-1982) suggested that there are differences between positive stress, calling it eustress, and negative stress, calling it distress or anguish in plainer terms.

As the human emotion that it is, stress is going to be experienced by everyone at some point in their lives. Y is necessary on certain occasions. However, it is necessary to differentiate between eustress and distress, one being more adaptive and useful than the other.

Let's see what are the main differences between eustress, distress and stress, although we already anticipate that the first two are within the latter.

What is stress?

When we talk about stress we refer to the response that our body establishes when faced with a situation that we perceive as dangerous or demanding. This response occurs both physically and psychologically, manifesting itself in the form of physiological changes, as a consequence of being faced with a stressor, which is nothing more than any change or stimulus that is believed to affect our physical or mental integrity. being faced with a stressor, which is nothing more than any change or stimulus that is believed to affect our physical or mental integrity..

Stress has been necessary throughout the history of evolution and it is thanks to it that we have survived. We can understand this if we think of the human being as what he is, an animal, and that thousands of years ago he was faced with threats from nature such as predators. In such a situation there were two responses to survive: fight or flight.

We say that stress is a physiological response, as well as a psychological one, because it also manifests itself at an organic level.. Stress manifests itself organically in the form of physiological activation, which in fact helps us to perform one of the two behaviors we have mentioned. When we feel stress our heart speeds up, Blood Pressure increases, digestion is inhibited and blood sugar levels rise. All these physiological changes are aimed at making escape and attack as efficient as possible, providing energy to the muscles.

While we cannot rule out the possibility of finding ourselves in a fight or flight situation, nowadays that is rather complicated. Nevertheless, we do continue to feel stress, in large quantities it must be said, even though we no longer experience the same threats as our prehistoric ancestors. Most of the stress experienced by Homo sapiens comes from his own mindMost of the stress experienced by modern Homo sapiens comes from his own mind, arising from psychological tensions and ruminations resulting from overestimating threats.

Thus, when we perceive a threat, such as an upcoming exam, work obligations or having to break up with a partner, we start to feel stressed. They are not things that are going to harm us physically but in our mind they are perceived as if they were as dangerous as the anthropophagous animals that our prehistoric ancestors had to face.

What is eustress?

Eustress is a relatively recent concept that has been described as synonymous with positive, helpful and motivating stress.. This type of stress is the one that motivates us to keep working, to improve our performance and achieve goals and challenges. It is physical, psychological and emotional tension but productive, efficient, that brings us closer to success. Like any other type of stress, it activates the body and mind, preparing the resources to face whatever must be overcome. Here, the energy generated to cope with the obstacle or task to be overcome is proportional to the energy demanded by the situation.

What makes a person experience positive or negative stress will depend on several factors, but among the main ones are the perception of the event and the stressor itself.

Typically, when a person feels confident in his or her ability to overcome a given stressful event, he or she is more likely to experience positive stress.. Naturally it will cause some tension, but that person will know that the situation will eventually be overcome, which allows him or her to think calmly about what he or she is doing and not become more overwhelmed than necessary.

Ways to create eustress are:

• Try something new.
• Exercise and participate in group sports.
• Prepare to learn something new, such as a language or play an instrument.
• Set challenging but realistic goals.
• Take on a new responsibility at work and see it as manageable.
• Organizing a social activity for oneself.

What we can see from eustress is that stress, in proportionate doses to the stimulus to be coped with and on a momentary basis, is beneficial.. Physiological and psychological activation, when it serves to cope with obstacles and achieve goals, is good for our lives. However, if the stress lasts too long and starts to increase, this activation will turn into distress. This negative stress occurs when the situation becomes too overwhelming or other stressors occur at the same time.

What is distress?

Distress is known or negative stressand is what most people associate with feeling stressed. It is the type of response that tends to make people feel overwhelmed, anxious and suffer from physical and psychological symptoms such as irritability, insomnia, lack of concentration and attention, headaches, stomach discomfort, dry mouth...

Stress, when it is frequent, intense and chronic, ends up damaging our mind and body. It is for this reason that negative stress is related to a series of physical illnesses and psychological disorders, as well as being an obstacle to leading a full and functional life.

People who suffer from high levels of stress have problems to perform at work, in their studies and in their social relationships such as friends, family and partner.In addition, they can reach the point where they no longer enjoy life or take pleasure in hobbies that were once pleasurable.

The main difference between eustress and distress has to do with the stressors that provoke the stress response and how the person evaluates them. Distress, which some also call distress, occurs when the individual perceives the stressors as beyond his or her control or that the ability to solve or change them is not available to him or her.

When distress is felt, it is common to feel overwhelmed and helpless, and since it has not yet been achieved, it is common to feel that the stressors are beyond one's control.When feeling distress, it is common to feel overwhelmed and helpless, and because a viable solution has not yet been reached, sufferers revert to worrying and other unproductive responses.

Among the most common sources of distress are the following:

• Economic problems
• Job dissatisfaction
• Political situation
• Concern about the future of the economy
• Episodes of violence, crimes, attacks...
• Health concerns
• Diagnosis of medical illness or mental disorder
• Conflicts in social relations
• Sleep problems
• Bad eating habits

Signs of positive and negative stress

Now that we have seen the definitions between stress, eustress and distress we can highlight their main differences. What we can extract from them is that eustress and distress are two modalities of stress, which if understood in its neutral sense refers to physiological and psychological tension and activation to cope with a given demand from the environment, either by performing a fight or flight behavior.

We can discern several signs between positive stress or eustress and negative stress or distress or distress:

• Signs of eustress or positive stress.
• Short-term duration.
• It produces energy and increases our motivation.
• Feeling of coping ability.
• Creates excitement and focus on the problems to be solved.
• Increases our productivity and performance.

Signs of stress or negative stress:

• Long-term duration.
• Feelings of anxiety and worry.
• Overcomes coping capacity.
• Generates unpleasant feelings.
• Decrease in our productivity and performance.
• Contributes to the development of physical and mental problems.

The impact of stress

As we have seen in the previous section, stress can cause psychological and physical alterations. High doses of negative stress often have a negative impact on the mood, health and functioning of those who suffer from it..

When this stress is chronic or occurs often, it leaves its mark at the organic level. This emotion impacts our physiology, increasing cortisol levels and can cause a number of physical and psychological problems, such as the following:

• Sleep problems: insomnia, hypersomnia....
• Physical pain or discomfort: headache, stomach ache, tingling...
• Alterations in appetite
• Increased heart rate, breathing and blood pressure.
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Memory problems.
• Chronic fatigue.
• Having racing or repetitive intrusive thoughts.
• Irritability and lower frustration tolerance.
• Anxiety and depression.
• Chronic use of painkillers and anxiolytics.
• Increased risk of substance use disorders.
• Increased risk of chronic diseases.
• Heart problems.
• Increased mortality.

Conclusion and final reflection

As we can see, stress in itself is not bad. It is an emotion that has been present in our species throughout its evolutionary history and has served it to survive and adapt. Without stress it would have been very difficult for our species to survive, since it is this emotion that awakens our fight or flight behavior in the face of threats that are so obviously harmful to our physical integrity, such as, for example, a lion attack.

Stress is subdivided into two types: positive stress, which is eustress, and negative stress, which is distress. Eustress is that emotional tension that motivates us to face a certain obstacle or event, something that although it may not threaten us vitally, it does require certain energy and activation to be able to overcome it. Distress, on the other hand, is the disproportionate emotional tension that causes us to feel great discomfort. that makes us feel great discomfort and we do not respond adequately to a stimulus which is not as dangerous as we perceive it to be.

All people will experience stress throughout their lives, of one type or another. The total absence of one and the complete presence of the other are problematic, because without eustress we cannot respond actively towards overcoming our vital objectives and with too much stress we risk suffering psychological and physical problems due to excessive tension. In both cases it is necessary to consult a psychologist to acquire the necessary tools to manage stress and respond adaptively to life's problems.