Signs of alarming stress.

Stress: When to get alarmed?

(How to decide how much stress is bad or alarming)

There are a number of behavioral signs and symptoms which are indicative of alarming levels of stress. They are as follows:

• Increased sensitivity to criticism.
• Inability to concentrate.
• Tendency to criticize others but intolerance to accept others criticism.
• A sense of paranoia (the patient is always suspicious about others and their actions).
• Boredom, Sadness, unhappiness, dissatisfaction, fatigue etc.
• Feeling of worthless. “Everything is useless”, “Life is worthless”, “Why am I living?
• Low self esteem and lack of self-confidence.
• Difficulty in making choices and decisions.
• Difficulty in being creative and productive.
• Poor lifestyle habits such as abusing alcohol, avoiding exercise, overeating, smoking
• Lack of motivation and initiative
• A feeling that the time is either passing too slowly or too quickly.
• Moody and Whimsical behaviour.
• More tension in muscle and muscle spasms.
• A feeling of a lump in the throat or some such thing.

An individual under stress may have many signs of those listed above at the some time.

Unfortunately the behaviour in response to stress may aggravate the stress further and if not intervened, the person will be badly entangled in this viscious cycle of stress-> behavior-> more stress-> behavior-> even more stress.