Stress is a term used to describe a feeling of pain, pressure or tension that comes from dealing with challenging situations. Stress is a natural part of life. Nobody has a stress free life and probably nobody would want to have one. In fact to pursue important personal goals, you must be willing to take on new challenges, which can be stressful. Coping effectively with stressful situations can minimize the effects
of stress on you and your symptoms, enabling you to pursue your goals.
Today most stress stems from interpersonal situations rather than from attacks by a predator. Occasionally you may want to flee from a mugger, but most of us want to flee from our parents, spouses, jobs or kids!
Stressors are either precipitating factors (triggers) for alcohol and drug use or maintaining factors for the behavior.
Causes of Stress
These situations can be positive or negative life events like getting married,
acquiring a new job, getting divorced, losing a loved one, losing your job, having a chronic illness like cancer, HIV/AIDS, mental illness so on and daily hassles like conflicts in a relationship, conflicts at work, unemployment, long drives, unpleasant home chores, minor medical problems and so on.
Hans Selye, the father of stress management, defines stress as a wear and tear of the body. Once you are in a state of stress, the body adapts by depleting its resources until it becomes exhausted. The wear and tear on your body is increasing; you can suffer from stress related effects like: Allergies and Asthma, back pain, cardiovascular problems, high blood pressure, headaches, fatigue, sexual problems,
premature aging, lost or weight gain, depression, emotional outbursts (anger, rage, irritability ,agitation, so on), which can lead to alcohol and drug use as a way of self-medication to flee from the negative emotions.