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Stressing out really does make it worse

Scientific American - Posted: November 26th, 2012, 12:52am EST

Animals dont handle stress well. Im not talking about acute stressors, the predator charging at you through the brush, you run away and its over. We handle that stress very well indeed. But severe stress, losing a job, a divorce, a death in the family, these can really wear us down. Severe life stressors can not only impact your physical health, they also often occur before the onset of mental illness, particularly major depressive disorder. Depression takes many forms (lack of interest in activities, sleep changes, eating changes, severely depressed mood), but one of the most debilitating ones is the way that it impacts motivation. While some stressors (like, say, a deadline), might before have been a motivator, making you work to get it done, during depression, these stressors become insurmountable obstacles. Things you did before you couldnt possibly get done now. Youll never make the deadline. You cant run the race. Stress cant motivate you any more. What has changed? a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=stressing-out-really-does-make-it-worse[More]/a

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