Problems of Stress and Anxiety at Work

In our globalized world, high unemployment rates, economic instability, the postponement of the moment of emancipation of young people their homes and the increase in demands to access decent work, has caused people to feel increasingly threatened by the area labor. In this, values ​​such as individuality and competitiveness prevail, which favors an image of work. linked to a dangerous place and potentially linked to loss, threatening feelings that generate abandonment. A conception of work is then configured that is radically opposed to “a means by which to carry out personal projects and support oneself economically.”

The place that work occupies within the framework of our personal fulfillment is the subject of study by various contemporary thinkers and philosophers, a discussion that will be left out of this article. However, and this is where we want to point out, the real problem with this vision is that these changes Structural structures in the world of work have led people to develop unhealthy levels of stress and

anxiety. So is the fact that mental health problems at work have become common. In that sense, it is important to question the values ​​that permeate society and that can be harmful to people's well-being.

As Zygmunt Bauman has noted, "Questioning the ostensibly unquestionable premises of our way of life is undoubtedly the most valuable service." "pressing thing that we owe ourselves", which means that there is a unique thought linked to our way of life, that we must reflect individually. However, in line with this purpose, It is necessary to distinguish the differences between stress and anxiety at work, a topic that we will address in this article, since the lack of knowledge of the distinction between both concepts could lead people to put off seeing a healthcare professional mental.

• Related article: "Psychology of work and organizations: a profession with a future"

What is work stress?

Stress, contrary to the common sense notion that is often promulgated, is not negative or something that we should eradicate from our lives. This is what is called positive stress. In fact, if we did, it would be something like having a car and taking off the wheels: without the stress, we wouldn't be able to go anywhere.

Stress is an adaptive mechanism that refers to a set of physiological changes that allow an organism to adapt to a stressful stimulus.. We say that it is adaptive because it allows us to give a response that is functional to the adaptation to the environment. If we perceive a threat—for example, noticing that the bridge we are walking on is a little loose—stress triggers a response. nerve that promotes the production of adrenaline to undertake a quick and effective action—fleeing the bridge—in response to the stimulus stressful.

So, the success of our adaptation to the challenges that we face every day depends on whether we can get stressed. If we focus on the workplace, it is thanks to stress that we can respond to a client's demand or meet a deadline or deadline. However, long work hours and very demanding jobs that the individual sees as being unable to perform may involve an overexposure to this stress—which, we repeat, is not negative in itself—but whose persistence can become problematic. We could call it negative stress.

This is because the body executes a series of responses aimed at resolving the stressful problem, behaviors that They have traditionally been categorized as fight, flight or freeze, but they may not be enough to end the stressor At this point, as the nervous response was not enough, the body triggers an endocrine response from the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the result of which is a production of cortisol, the hormone responsible for evoking stress responses throughout the body.

The problem is that an overproduction of cortisol could have severe consequences on a physical, cognitive and behavioral level. If we are permanently exposed to high-demand situations at work that we cannot we can give efficient responses, stress will end up becoming chronic, potentially triggering a pathology.

• You may be interested: "Work stress: causes, and how to combat it"

Burnout: the pathology of work stress

One of the most studied pathologies in recent years in relation to stress is work stress, also called burnout or burnout syndrome. It is a mental disorder of stress at work that manifests itself as physical fatigue, burnout, progressive loss of energy, exhaustion and lack of personal fulfillment in relation to work projects. He burnout predominates among public health personnel —doctors, nurses—and other professions that involve caring for people in a state of vulnerability, since that these professionals are usually exposed to guards, long and unsustainable work hours and few remunerations.

However, the possibility of suffering from this pathology is not limited to exclusively these professionals. He burnout It is characterized by the feeling that one's work is unrewarding and the lack of recognition towards it; also due to the person's difficulty in discriminating the personal world from the professional. For those who suffer from this syndrome, both dimensions of life are equivalent, and the Professional concerns destroy any glimpse of personal pleasures that go beyond from work.

Anxiety at work

However, constant exposure to stressful situations at work could trigger emotional responses more closely linked to anxiety. Anxiety, like stress, is a normal and adaptive response, since it allows us to anticipate the future to carry out more appropriate behaviors in the present. Feeling anxiety gives us the possibility of devising a plan, since we are anticipating an imminent danger, and also allows us to consider the consequences of our actions. Some authors consider anxiety as part of the evolutionary fight-or-flight survival reaction, triggered by stress.

Nevertheless, At work, some people may experience anxiety in situations that are not truly threatening.. Also, people who experience anxiety at work often perceive a vague threat and diffuse during work hours, or when they are immersed in it, but are unable to detect what they are they fear. On the contrary, they usually perceive their discomfort through other somatic symptoms and body pains with non-organic causes instead of being aware of their anxiety. This is very common in patients who suffer from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Therefore, anxiety at work could be expressed in headaches and neck pain, sweaty hands or feelings of suffocation; but also in specific behaviors such as avoiding work events, postponing or procrastinating difficult tasks, or difficulties maintaining attention.

To detect any of these symptoms in relation to work, whether they are linked to stress or anxiety, you need to go to a mental health professional and receive counseling and therapy appropriate. Self-diagnosis or prolonged self-medication is not appropriate to dispel any type of doubt and receive the proper treatment it is important not to self-diagnose any pathology and go to a health professional mental.