What are the differences between eustress, distress, and stress?

In popular language it is common to hear that stress is a bad thing. This emotion is normally associated with anguish, discomfort and dysfunctionality, synonymous with it being 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 why this emotion has remained in our species. It has to have an adaptive factor, a good thing.

Because of this, there are those who 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 will see what they are the main differences between eustress, distress and stress, highlighting the definitions of these three terms.

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Differences between stress, distress, and eustress (explained)

In our everyday language we usually use the word "stress" giving it a negative meaning. 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 human beings show it is because, at Throughout the evolutionary history of our species, it has been useful to express this response to certain stimuli. Stress is simply the body's response to changes that create demanding 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) who suggested that there are differences between positive stress, calling it eustress, and negative stress, calling it distress or distress in more terms plains.

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

We are going to see what are the main differences between eustress, distress and stress, although we already anticipated that the first two are within the last.

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What is stress?

When we speak of stress, we refer to the response that our body establishes in a situation that we perceive as dangerous or demanding. This response occurs both on a physical and psychological level, manifesting itself in the form of physiological changes, as a consequence of being faced with a stressor that 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 it is, an animal, and that thousands of years ago it was faced with threats from nature like predators. In such a situation there were two answers to be able to survive: fight or flee.

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

Although the possibility of finding ourselves in a situation in which we have to fight or flee cannot be ruled out, today that is rather complicated. However, we do continue to feel stress, in large quantities, even though we no longer experience the same threats as our prehistoric ancestors. Most of the stress experienced by the Homo sapiens modern comes from your own mind, arisen from psychological tensions and rumination product of oversizing threats.

Thus, when we perceive a threat, such as an upcoming exam, work obligations or having to break up with a partner, we begin 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 so dangerous like the cannibalistic animals our prehistoric ancestors had to face.

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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 what motivates us to keep working, to improve our performance and to achieve our 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 everything that must be overcome. Here, the energy generated to face the obstacle or task to overcome is proportional to what the situation demands.

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

Usually, when a person feels confident in their ability to overcome a certain stressful event, they are more likely to experience positive stress. Naturally it will cause some tension, but that person will know that sooner or later the situation will end being outmatched, which allows you to calmly think about what he is doing and not overwhelm yourself more than necessary.

Ways to create eustress are:

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

What we can see from eustress is that stress, in proportionate doses to the stimulus to be faced and momentarily, is beneficial. Physiological and psychological activation, when it serves to face obstacles and achieve goals, is good for our lives. However, if the tension lasts too long and begins 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 stress, and it's what most people associate with feeling stressed. This is the kind of response that tends to make people feel overwhelmed, anxious, and have physical symptoms and psychological disorders such as irritability, insomnia, lack of concentration and attention, headaches, upset stomach, dryness of mouth…

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

People who suffer from high levels of stress have problems performing at work, in studies and in social relationships such as friends, family and partnerIn addition to the fact that it can reach the point of not enjoying life or enjoying hobbies that were previously pleasant.

The main difference between eustress and distress has to do with the stressors that cause the tension response and how the person evaluates them. Distress, which some also call anguish, occurs when the individual perceives the factors stressful as out of your control or that the ability to fix or change it is not within your provision.

When you feel distressed, it is common to feel overwhelmed and helpless., and as a viable solution has not yet been reached, those who suffer from it again worry and manifest other unproductive responses.

Among the most common sources of distress we find the following:

• Economic problems
• Job dissatisfaction
• Political situation
• Concern for the future of the economy
• Episodes of violence, crimes, attacks ...
• Concern for health
• Diagnosis of medical illness or mental disorder
• Conflicts in social relationships
• Sleeping problems
• Bad eating habits

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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 forms of stress, which if understood in its neutral sense refers to tension and physiological and psychological activation to face a certain demand of the environment, either by carrying out a fight or flight behavior.

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

• Signs of eustress or positive stress.
• Short term duration.
• It produces energy and increases our motivation.
• Feeling of coping ability.
• Create emotion and attention in the problems to be solved.
• Increase our productivity and performance.

Signs of distress or negative stress:

• Long term duration.
• Feelings of anxiety and worry.
• Exceeds coping ability.
• It generates unpleasant feelings.
• Decrease in our productivity and performance.
• It contributes to developing physical and mental problems.

The impact of distress

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

When this tension is chronic or occurs often, it leaves its mark on an organic level. This emotion affects our physiology, increasing cortisol levels and can cause a series of physical and psychological problems, such as the ones that follow:

• Sleep problems: insomnia, hypersomnia ...
• Physical pain or discomfort: headache, stomach pain, tingling ...
• Changes in appetite
• Increased heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure.
• Difficult to focus.
• Memory problems.
• Chronic fatigue
• Having racing or repetitive intrusive thoughts.
• Irritability and lower tolerance for frustration.
• Anxiety and depression.
• Consumption of painkillers and anxiolytics on a chronic basis.
• 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 that has helped it survive and adapt. Without stress, it is very difficult for our species to have survived, since it is this emotion that awakens the behavior of fight or flight in the face of threats so obviously harmful to our physical integrity such as, for example, the attack of a Lion.

Stress is subdivided into two types: positive, which is eustress, and negative, 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 a certain energy and activation to be able to get over it. Distress, on the other hand, is disproportionate emotional stress That causes us to feel great discomfort and not respond adequately to a stimulus which is not as dangerous as we perceive it.

All people are going to experience stress throughout life, both of one type and another. The total absence of one and the complete presence of the other are problematic, since without eustress one cannot actively respond to the exceeding vital goals and with too much distress we risk suffering psychological and physical problems due to excessive tension. In both cases, you should go to a psychologist to acquire the necessary tools to manage stress and respond adaptively to life problems.