With ever increasing competition and fast running life, perhaps we can’t even think of a stress-free existence. The pressures of modern living are encouraging the stress around. Throughout the life cycle, we encounter various changes in life. Every change, whether it is pleasant or poor, generates some stress. But, if this stress gets intense or prolonged, it will leave you in depression or with anxiety disorders. Now before we switch over to the coping strategies, we would like to throw some light on their major causes.
As we all know that a man spends most of his time at the workplace. Workplace situations, challenges, and job dissatisfaction are some of the common origins of stress. A recent poll found the highest levels of stress in professions such as legal, banking and finance. Women suffer stress most likely in their personal relations. Whatever the reason, either personal or social, stress leads to acute physical and psychological problems including depression and anxiety, in both, men and women.
While depression generates emotions like despair, hopelessness and irritation, anxiety disorder results into emotions of panic and fear even towards normal conditions. Though exact causes of depression are unknown, but advance researches have thrown some light on it. Today we know that depression results from a troubled communication between the brain’s neural circuits and its chemical neurotransmitters. Other than this, depression may stem from genetic, environmental and emotional factors. The most common causes of depressions are:
| Unexpected job lossDivorceBereavementProlonged physical illness |
Because of very low energy levels, such people often feel weighed down by the daily routines and personal relations. If not treated, these disorders can curb one’s ability to work or even maintain the relationships. Though, it sounds strange but our society has created a gender bias for everything and depression is not spared. In most of the cultures, men are supposed to be successful and resistant to express their emotions. So, depression either comes out in form of aggression, anger and frustration or drinking. Men will prefer drinking heavily or even committing suicide to admitting their emotions or depression. Our male dominating society has taught men to restrain the emotions as this is perceived as a weakness.
More interestingly, men have different coping strategy in case of bereavement. At the loss of a loved one, a woman lets loose all her pain, grief and emotions but man sticks to the belief of being strong and take up full responsibility for their bereavement and suppress the grief. This suppression leads to many complications like escalating anger, substance abuse and physical problems like cholesterol levels, ulcers, high blood pressure, and pain.
Well, now let’s come to the sister disorder of depression i.e. anxiety. Like depression, exact causes of anxiety disorders are still unclear but researches have come up with few possible causes like:
| DepressionWork place stressHeart conditionsExtreme emotionsWitnessing or suffering traumatic eventDrugsMalnutritionSevere physical ailments like Cancer, AIDS, and Diabetes etc. |
Anxiety disorder is recognized by panic attacks, also known as agoraphobia. It is a severe anxiety condition when a person is scared of panicky feelings. The depression or stress is so intense that one may experience fearful feelings at places which are normal to others. Now here once again, gender differences enter the scene. Let’s see how?
The panic attack imitates heart attack which include chest pain, thumping heart and breathing problem. And because men are considered to be more prone to heart attack than women, panic attacks in men often go undetected. This becomes probably, the most ground reason for the obvious bias in diagnosis of a panic attack in men compared to women. Although women undergo panic attacks and other anxiety disorders in considerably higher numbers than men, but it may be because they look for help more readily. Another reason for not being diagnosed and treated is the effort of self-treatment of the problem with alcohol.
Well, this is not the end but by this time, you must have got a good knowledge about stress, depression and anxiety. Now, if you are one of the sufferers of any of these symptoms, then stop getting scared and embarrassed or consuming alcohol as coping mechanism. Make yourself comfortable and don’t hesitate to visit a doctor. Before stress kills you in silence, better you kill the stress.