Since the current concept of stress was formulated in the 1950s stress has become a word used extensively in modern everyday language. Roskies (1983, p.542) explains the astronomical change in the use of the word ‘stress’,  “from it’s humble origins as a laboratory term in the 1950s, stress has now become a short-hand symbol for explaining much of what ails us in the contemporary world invoked to explain conditions as diverse as nail biting, smoking, homicide, suicide, cancer, and heart disease”. In the twentieth century the pace of life has been viewed as the root cause of much illness (Cooper and Dewe, 2004). During the 1980s and 1990s there was an explosion in the interest in stress. Much of the current theory and literature around stress were written in these decades, possibly because there was so much stress around? Indicative of the sheer volume lies in a 1995 report which indicated that stress played a major factor in 70% of visits to the family doctor (Posen, 1995). Powell and Enright (1990) allude to the size of the problem by the end of the 1980s. An estimated eighty percent of all diseases have their beginnings in stress, one in five British females are prescribed tranquilisers, in the USA there is a reported five hundred percent increase in coronary heart disease over the last fifty years, eight million in the US have stomach ulcers and twelve million have alcohol problems, forty million days are lost to British industry to stress related conditions and finally Americans took five billion doses of tranquilisers and sixteen thousand tonnes of aspirin each year. These figures have increased subsequently and continue to increase.

I reflect on the possible reasons for the stark increase in the report of stress related problems. To my mind there are many possibilities.  There is a possibility that they have always been there and we now have a ‘pigeon-hole’ to place them in or the stigma of stress related illness has diminished. Whilst these are probable contributory factors they do not fully reflect the other causes. I see them at a Meta and Macro level - there have been significant changes of the last three decades. Many countries have seen significant development in material development; ways of working and technology have become more and more sophisticated, new weapons have been developed, wars are being fought over energy sources, new diseases have appeared, the environment is being polluted and global warming is on the increase. On a personal level, media-led high expectations drive us in search of the “perfect job”, the “perfect home” and the “perfect partner” and despite the increase in personal wealth we are left feeling unsatisfied and wanting more. You could say that our spiritual connection with what it is to be truly human and enjoying a spiritual connection with the environment is waning, see Gyatso (2000 pp 2-3).

References

• Cooper, C.L., & Dewe, P. (2004). Stress – A Brief History. Malden MA: Blackwell.
• Gyatso, G.K., (2000). Eight Steps to Happiness. Ulverston: Tharpa.
• Posen, D.B. (1995). Stress management for patient and physician. Canadian Journal of Continuing Medical Education, Vol.121, 213-245.
• Powell, T., & Enright, S. (1990). Anxiety and Stress Management. London: Tavistock/Routledge.
• Roskies, E. (1983). Stress Management: Averting the evil eye. Contemporary Psychology, 28, 542-544