Chronic Stress Research Paper

Whenever I’ve had to deal with a major stressful event I experience a great deal of anxiety and restlessness. The anxiety specifically manifests itself throughout my entire body and it ends up affecting me both mentally and physically. As a result of being stressed and my sympathetic nervous system being activated the first thing that usually happens to me physically is that my neck and back will start to feel tense and sore. I will also have tightness in my chest to the point where I feel like I am incapable of taking a deep breath. Mentally I have no patience for anyone and I am very quick to loss my temper. My thoughts get consumed with whatever it is that is causing me distress. Immediately my mind goes straight to the worst-case scenario, …show more content…
I am still able to live my life and do my normal activities despite the stress and anxiety I feel. This makes the stress that I have acute which does less damage to the body than if it were chronic stress. Chronic stress causes the sympathetic nervous system to continuously be turned on which not only creates wear and tear on the body physically, it can also cause depression. One reason that chronic stress and depression are correlated is because when a person is suffering from prolonged stress they feel like they no longer have control over their lives, which is one pathway toward depression (Sapolsky, 2003, p.92). Another factor is that chronic stress produces too much glucocorticoid thereby reducing norepinephrine, which causes the person to become lethargic and less attentive, which are also traits of depression (Sapolsky, 2003, p.92). I have not yet experienced depression in my life and I believe that the reason for that is because I always found a way work around the negative experiences that life can bring you. Sapolsky (2004) talks extensively in “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” about people who suffer from depression not having the ability to see the positives in life and only focusing on the negative. People who are depressed have the tendency to see life as “glass half empty”. Instead of looking at what is good they will always zero in on the bad. People who suffer from depression also have more of an external locus of control. To them there is nothing they can do to be happy because they have no control over what happens to them. I feel very lucky that I have more of an internal locus of control. I know that if I want to be happy I need to be proactive in achieving that happiness. Even though there are days where I feel depressed, stressed or have anxiety I know those feelings will not last forever. I am aware

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