Distress (medicine)
Encyclopedia
In medicine, distress is an aversive
state in which an animal is unable to adapt completely to stressors and their resulting stress
and shows maladaptive behaviors. It can be evident in the presence of various phenomena, such as inappropriate social interaction (e.g., aggression, passivity, or withdrawal).
Stress can be created by influences such as work, school, peers or co-workers, family and death. Other influences vary upon age. This means that distress is the opposite of eustress
, a positive stress that motivates us. People under constant distress are more likely to become sick, mentally or physically.
People often find ways of dealing with distress, in both negative and positive ways. Examples of positive ways are listening to music, calming exercises, sports and similar healthy distractions. Negative ways can include but are not limited to use of drugs, use of alcohol and expression of anger, which are likely to lead to complicated social interactions, thus causing increased distress.
Suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and...
state in which an animal is unable to adapt completely to stressors and their resulting stress
Stress (medicine)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
and shows maladaptive behaviors. It can be evident in the presence of various phenomena, such as inappropriate social interaction (e.g., aggression, passivity, or withdrawal).
Stress can be created by influences such as work, school, peers or co-workers, family and death. Other influences vary upon age. This means that distress is the opposite of eustress
Eustress
Eustress is a term coined by endocrinologist Hans Selye which is defined in the model of Richard Lazarus as stress that is healthy, or gives one a feeling of fulfillment or other positive feelings. Eustress is a process of exploring potential gains....
, a positive stress that motivates us. People under constant distress are more likely to become sick, mentally or physically.
People often find ways of dealing with distress, in both negative and positive ways. Examples of positive ways are listening to music, calming exercises, sports and similar healthy distractions. Negative ways can include but are not limited to use of drugs, use of alcohol and expression of anger, which are likely to lead to complicated social interactions, thus causing increased distress.