That was the first question Dr. Bevilaqua addressed last Wednesday.

A volunteer from the audience wrote down the responses that were brainstormed by the audience.  A variety of responses abounded:

• feeling out of control
• feeling helpless
• feeling overwhelmed
• pressure
• anxiety/fear
• too much to do and not enough time to do it
• high expectations
• high stakes
• the “fight or flight” response (he told us “they” also have added “freeze”)
• fear
• the body’s response to a perceived threat  (that was mine!)

The list was much longer, but they started to morph into manifestations like:

• headaches
• stomach aches
• school avoidance
• irritability
• sleeplessness
• negative self talk
• obsession/perseverating
• catastrophizing
• projecting

Continue reading “Defining Stress” →