Stress Management For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 18

Ten Events That Trigger Stress

In This Chapter

Weathering life’s storms

Understanding how joyful events can become stressors

Stress, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder. What may be incredibly stressful for you may be a minor irritation for someone else, and perhaps not stressful at all to a third person. It is largely your perception and interpretation of a situation or event that make that event or situation stressful. However, certain events tend to be viewed as highly stressful by most people, most of the time.

What follows is a list of ten events, experiences, and circumstances that people feel are the most stressful. Although this list is taken from my own clinical experience, I don’t expect you to agree with most of my choices. You may be surprised, however, to see events that you normally think of as positive — getting married, having a child — listed as stress-producers. But they are. Major life changes, even good changes, are usually stressful.

Losing a Loved One

Surely nothing can be more devastating than the death of someone you very much care about. The loss of your spouse, your child, a close relative, or a very good friend can result in an overwhelming amount of stress. And this stress can last for a very long time. This tragedy comes at ...