Currently, it is very common to come across technical words from psychology, psychiatry or psychoanalysis that, by not having sufficient context, can confuse those who are not dedicated to these disciplines. If it is usually complex for a health professional to locate a condition, it will be even more so for those who have not undergone training that allows them to practically identify what they have reviewed theoretically.
Before defining each of the concepts, it is necessary to consider the fear as the instinctive basis that sustains each This emotion aims to awaken physical stimuli in such a way that humans can react to dangerous situations, that is, from real life or death situations, our body is activated for survival.
However, it has been detected that Both stress, anguish and anxiety are characterized by physically presenting themselves in a similar way to fear with the difference that the frightening factor may be imaginary or without life-threatening characteristics.
Because the human being is complex in mind and body, it becomes necessary to take into account anything that happens to him from a biological, psychological and social perspective.
Identifying the manifestations of each one
A picture of stress, anxiety and/or anguish can be identified by how it manifests from different points. The signs, that is, the visible and palpable, as well as symptoms, which are the subjective and intangible reactions, They will be the guide that allows you to identify that something atypical is happening to a person To mention a few we have:
It will be important to understand that stress, anguish and anxiety are concepts, which means that these words name a body of knowledge that has been ordered, understood and accepted by a person or a group of people and that by being able to name it it will then be “easier” to locate it and differentiate it from other conditions. Doctors, psychologists, psychoanalysts and philosophers are the main ones in typifying what happens to the person depending on the combination, frequency, duration and intensity of signs and symptoms.
How to distinguish them?
These concepts are not always related to the category of illness, since what they are experienced is normal and they function as adaptive mechanisms similar to fear. However, important differences have been detected between these three concepts.
Stress is related to external demands Normally linked to the social aspect that affects the emotional, and as a consequence triggers physical symptoms.
Anxiety usually focuses on physical symptoms triggered by jumps coming from outside or by devaluating or catastrophic thoughts that make the person feel at risk, even manifesting themselves in panic attacks.
Distress, a sensation present in both anxiety and stress, is usually characterized by the intangible and described as an existential ailment or distress mostly related to depression or psychosis.
The evolution of the explanations for stress, anguish and anxiety go hand in hand with technology, scientific advances and social movements. All of the above causes the information that is usually found to become confusing, contradictory or even monotonous. The only thing we can be sure about these conditions is that they generate suffering and pain for the person, so finding a way to help alleviate what they feel will be the driving force to continue defining with increasing clarity what it means.
Cognitive-behavioral therapies They will be the most appropriate to deal with what concerns thoughts and behavior, they will help raise awareness more acutely and that will make it easier to be alert, especially preventively.
Humanistic or psychoanalytic therapies will aim to work from the emotional side, conflicts in relationships and identify the origin of the situation
Medical treatments will be useful to calm what is related to the body and what is uncontrollable by the mind. Thus, narrative therapies will also be able to give words to the feelings and the discourses imposed by society and the systemic to raise awareness of the environment.
Each of the specialists in this will make an effort to find a way for the person to suffer less, however, it will always be important to remember that the definition of a concept may change, depending on the progress in research from different areas. Stress, anguish and anxiety are not the same and they are not so different from each other, the only people who will be able to define the severity will be the professionals and the person who suffers from it, so the precise definition of what each person suffers will be occupation of two. If one specialist does not hit the nail on the head, it will be another and the success in this will be the relationship that is created and the person’s search to understand each other more and more. Psych. Grecia S. Romero Sánchez
