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05 Handout 2 PerDev

Stress can manifest in two ways - as eustress or distress. Eustress is "good stress" that motivates and challenges a person to accomplish tasks, like Michael facing his school requirements. Distress overwhelms and discourages, like Jason avoiding his schoolwork. Whether stress helps or hurts depends on one's reaction to it. Viewing stressors as challenges rather than threats allows one to address problems head on. Eustress motivates problem-solving while distress causes avoidance, worsening the situation. Positive experiences can also cause stress, though less noticeably than negative ones.

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60 views

05 Handout 2 PerDev

Stress can manifest in two ways - as eustress or distress. Eustress is "good stress" that motivates and challenges a person to accomplish tasks, like Michael facing his school requirements. Distress overwhelms and discourages, like Jason avoiding his schoolwork. Whether stress helps or hurts depends on one's reaction to it. Viewing stressors as challenges rather than threats allows one to address problems head on. Eustress motivates problem-solving while distress causes avoidance, worsening the situation. Positive experiences can also cause stress, though less noticeably than negative ones.

Uploaded by

King Cj
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SH1687

Two (2) Faces of Stress

I. Threat or Challenge

The story of Michael and Jason exemplifies how stress can either help or hurt you. Stress could
either harness the anxiety and accomplish tasks that at first seem impossible or could allow
yourself to become so burdened by it that it aggravates the situation. Michael demonstrated
what stress physicians call eustress, which literally means "good stress" or "positive stress"
when he utilized his feelings of stress and anxiety and transformed them into motivation. He
took the stress brought about by his school requirements as a challenge which he could
overcome. On the other hand, Jason displayed the opposite indicating that stress can affect
people negatively. When he was confronted by the same stressful situation brought about by
school requirements, he seemed to be too overwhelmed by it that he did not want to deal with
it at all. In this sense, stress becomes
too threatening that it gives a person the impression that he is in distress.

These are the (2) two faces of stress – eustress and distress. Stress could, therefore, be a good
thing or a bad thing, depending on one's reaction to it. When you allow stress to discourage
you or deflate your spirits, you become powerless to face the source of stress. But if you only
react positively to the pressures of the different stressors in your life – to view them as mere
challenges and obstacles you would have the capacity and the drive to address these stressors
head on.

When you experience eustress, you become motivated to find ways in which you could address
the problems causing stress, which would, therefore, open the possibility of eliminating the
source of stress altogether. On the other hand, when you become too affected and experience
distress, you worsen the stressful situation by running away from stressors instead of facing
them head on. Whatever happiness you might feel by escaping from the stress is temporary,
because eventually, you would have to be confronted by the stressful situation again.

II. Happy Stress

It is a common misconception that stress can only be related to negative events and
circumstances. In the story of Hannah, her health has been affected by the stress caused by
activities that she enjoys. Although you may not notice it as profoundly as stress that comes
from negative experiences, positive experiences are equally stressful.

Reference:
Mejorada, A. & Pasa, N. (2016). Growing in character a senior high school textbook on personal
development. Quezon City, Philippines: Brilliant Creations Publishing, Inc.
05 Handout 2 *Property of STI
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