15 Ways Stress Affects Mental Health

There are at least 15 ways stress affects mental health. Unfortunately, one of the hardest things to do is convince people to seek help.

Feeling overwhelmed

It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re stressed. Too much input all at once can cause your mental gears to grind and even come to a crashing halt.

Lowering of self-esteem

Feelings of inadequacy can arise when one finds that they can’t keep up with everything. Everyone handles stress differently.

Depression

This is one of the most persistent results of continual stress when it’s placed on the body and the mind. People shut down all the time when it comes to feeling as though they can’t meet the mental demands of life.

Losing grip on reality

Mental health is important in a lot of ways, but keeping your grip on reality is one of them. It sounds like something out of a movie, but people can ‘lose it’ far too easily at times.

Severe mood swings

You can be happy one moment and raging the next for no reason that anyone can divine. Stress does different things to different people

Physical ailments begin to occur

Your mental health will affect your physical health at some point. The body can’t run efficiently without every system firing on all cylinders.

Paranoia

This is one of the worst effects in my opinion since it leaves you looking over your shoulder for no reason. Thanks to this, you might lose sleep or otherwise become so stressed that you cease to function.

Lack of trust in others

When you feel that everyone has an ulterior motive for saying something or doing anything, it’s a sign that you’re stressed. Whether it’s justified or not, you need to calm down and find a quiet spot to gather your thoughts.

Panic attacks

This happens too often in some cases as over-stimulation does odd things to people. But the sad thing is that some people think that the genuine attack is a bid for attention, or an attempt to escape accountability.

Persecution complex

The sad thing about this is that people feel that they’re the victim. The reality is that most people don’t care enough to victimize you to such a degree.

Feelings of inferiority

The idea that you’re inferior to anyone is easy to feel when stress takes over. You don’t feel that you can measure up to others, and it makes the situation worse.

Psychosis

This is when things start getting intense and even more serious. At this point, it’s time for therapy, medication, or both.

Manic depression

Otherwise known as bipolar disorder, this is when you feel high highs and low lows. Unfortunately, this condition is insanely stressful since one can bounce from one emotion to another without the proper de-escalation.

Destruction of social network

Stress can make you neglect your friends and your family, and can even damage or sever ties between people. It’s important to slow down and think about what’s happening to your social circle.

Suicide

Yes, stress does lead to suicide, and it’s nothing to play around with. If you know anyone that’s this stressed and talks in a certain way or appears to be fading from social view, it’s time to reach out.