TOXIC STRESS AND HOW TO OVERCOME IT, Part 2

UNHEALTHY CONSEQUENCES OF TOXIC STRESS


Toxic Stress—a generic name for prolonged stress with no apparent end in sight that makes us feel powerless, hopeless, depressed and anxious.

Physical manifestations of toxic stress:

· The increased adrenaline level no longer comes down. The blood pressure and heart rate don’t either, wearing down the circulatory system and leading to hypertension and heart failure.

· Chronic increase of stress hormones (steroids, adrenaline, nor adrenaline) makes platelets more prone to aggregate and mobilize energy in the bloodstream and increase the level of fat, glucose and LDL type of cholesterol which leads to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques.

· The muscles remain tense and ready for the “fight or flight,” but the prolonged tension is weakening them.

· Pain and headaches become daily companions.

· Stress hormones inhibit the formation of leukocytes by inhibiting the thymus function and inhibiting the innate immune response. Stress induces a miscommunication between the brain and the immune system, weakening the body’s response to infections and even cancer.

· Digestive symptoms like discomfort, alternating constipation and bloating with diarrhea

· Increased predisposition for ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome; changes in appetite, eating too much or too little

· Delays healing from wounds and other illnesses

· Accelerates the aging process

(For this section I used information from the book Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky.)

Stress and Cancer

Long hypothesized and intuitively believed to be a true link: Galen observed 2000 years ago that women who were melancholy were more susceptible to cancer than other females; Gendron, a British physician in 1700s emphasized the effect of “disasters of life” as a cause of cancer; Burrows, eighty years later, attributed cancer as a reaction to “the uneasy passions of the mind in which the patient is strongly affected for a long time”; in the nineteen century observations were made about cervical cancer more common in sensitive and frustrated individuals; Walshe in his treatise The Nature and Treatment of Cancer called attention to the “influence of mental misery, sudden reverses of fortune and habitual gloomings of the temper on the disposition of carcinomatous matter.” One hundred years ago Snow reviewed 250 patients at the London Cancer Hospital and concluded, “The loss of a relative was an important factor in the development of cancer of the breast and uterus.”


· Characteristics of cancer prone individuals: frequent feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, an inability to express anger or resentment, an unusual amount of self dislike and distress and the loss of a meaningful emotional relationship


· One hypothesis for the relationship between stress and cancer is that, under stress, according to Yamasaki’s article on non-genotoxic mechanisms of carcinogenesis: “Cancer can be regarded as a rebellion in an orderly society of cells when they neglect their neighbors and grow autonomously over surrounding normal cells.” In essence, the balance and communication at cellular level may be lost during severe stress.


· The good news: spirituality, feeling of social support, learning and practicing stress management techniques, visualization and reframing of stress can all help improve the cancer outcome, in some cases increasing survival rates: and, perhaps, for people able to manage stress effectively, may have a protective effect from cancer.

(I have used for these sections information from the well researched article, Stress and Cancer: Diseases of Civilization, Communication and Control by Paul J. Rosch, M.D., F.A.C.P., President of The American Institute of Stress. You can find it in its entirety on line at )


The effects of toxic stress on the central nervous system

· Amygdala is highly activated by stress and has an inhibiting effect on the hippocampus, which leads to memory impairment.

· The neural connections networks are disrupted, which leads to decreased memory and concentration and, ultimately, to neuronal atrophy

· Excessive and prolonged exposure to stress hormones ultimately causes neurological impairment

· Recent brain imaging research shows that, extremely stressful situations like torture and traumatic head injury produce structural deficits in the prefrontotemporal brain regions, associated with severe depression.


The effects of toxic stress on emotional health


· Anxiety with panic attacks, irritability, even angry outbursts


· Reinforcing the anxiety and avoidance brain circuit in the amygdalar region of the right hemisphere


· Inhibiting the optimistic, future-planning circuit in the prefrontal cortex of the left hemisphere.


· Major depression with anhedonia (lack of pleasure in almost anything), excessive guilt and hopelessness.


Neuroimaging of patients with major depression showed abnormalities in the anterior cyngulate gyrus of the left frontal lobe, the same area thought to be crucial to comprehensive forward planning and executive control. It is believed that the anti-depressants act at that site to boost its activity and by so doing, help the depressed person regain the executive control and ability to make rational plans. The electrical stimulation of the same area showed relief in the depressive symptoms and an improved connection with amygdala, leading to better emotional control. Certain types of psychotherapy, like cognitive restructuring therapy or reframing, may lead to the same neurologic effect.


· Patients with genetically reduced volume of the above mentioned area of the brain have shown an increased risk for developing depression and a weaker connection with the amygdala, giving them less executive control over anxiety and the avoidance-producing brain center.


· PTSD (patients with PTSD due to repeated stress have small hipocmapi. The more severe the history of trauma is, the larger the volume loss.)

(For these sections I used notes from the on line book Psychology: An Introduction by Russel A. Dewey, Ph.D.)



Common Stressors—The Life Stress Inventory

The most popular stress scale is the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory.
The first five most stressful life events are based on loss, considered to trigger some of the most powerful stressful reactions:
· Death of a spouse, considered the most stressful of all possible life events
· Divorce
· Marital separation
· Jail term
· Death of close family member



What stressors have you found the most difficult to cope with? How did you overcome them?
How do you react under stress to everyday stress?
How do you react to prolonged, long term stress?
How did you manage it?



Try this exercise:


The Navajo Chant:


Happily may I walk


Let there be beauty before me
(Think of one thing for which you are grateful today.)

Let there be beauty behind me
(Think of one thing for which you are grateful today.)

Let there be beauty below me
(Think of one thing for which you are grateful today.)

Let there be beauty above me
(Think of one thing for which you are grateful today.)

Let there be beauty all around me
(Think of one thing for which you are grateful today.)

In beauty it is all fulfilled.

I hope the flowers in my painting made this picture of toxic stress less gloomy. I didn't talk about toxic stress to make you sad or to bring you down. I just wanted you to see in how many negative ways our health at all levels is marked by stress. The good news is that we can do something about it. There are many interventions we can do to shield ourselves from these negative consequences. You will see those interventions in few days, in Part 3 of this series--How to manage stress successfully.