STRESS - A Contrarian View

The Anxiety Industry

In an article on the “Anxiety Industry” it is noted that this vaguely defined ‘malady’ appears to have reached epidemic proportions and that it seems to be particularly infectious among those working in the public sector. That was my experience toiling at a university even though the setting was an arcadian one, quiet and relatively empty for much of the year. All this dates back to Hans Selye and 1956 - The Stress of Life. He spent most of his career in Canada and apparently the latter part of it was marred somewhat by his association with the tobacco industry. For the stress skeptic some good points are made and the source for the article is noted below.

“But what is stress, really? The definition is so vague as to be almost meaningless. It now encompasses almost any heightened feeling, from weariness to alarm, from anger to nervousness. Based on the idea that the natural state is calmness, the concept of stress promotes the idea that any strong emotion must be physically or psychologically harmful.”

“Yet it defies history and common sense to pretend that workplace stress is increasing. Most of us enjoy shorter hours, better pay, longer holidays, greater security and higher living standards than Britons of the past. In place of manual labour and heavy industry, we tend to work in comfortable surroundings.

Far from helping anyone, the stress fad is profoundly dangerous. It creates a climate of resignation and fear in the workplace. The medicalisation of emotion encourages an attitude of 'learned helplessness', and encourages some to feel that work is actually damaging their health, when all research shows the opposite.

Falsely described as stress, intensity of feeling is a biological impulse that enables us to cope with the challenges that are unavoidable in work and life. It should be welcomed as a vital part of the human condition.”
(For more see The Spectator, Nov. 21, 2015).