Toxic Stress

Increasingly clinicians are beginning to better understand the relationship between emotional stress and the physical illnesses that develop in later life.

Illnesses currently being attributed to stress include any that affect the auto immune system, plus conditions such as fibromyalgia and similar illnesses.

So, we need to understand when and why stress can be toxic and appreciate that not all stress is toxic.  Stress is a mental, physical or biochemical response to a perceived threat or demand. Stress can be identified as Positive, Tolerable, or that which could be deemed to be Intolerable ie Toxic Stress.

The link at the end of this sentence explains the difference more clearly between the three definitions – and we give thanks to the 70/30 Campaign for this and other useful diagrams - Toxic Stress Diagram

In addition we also give thanks to the GINA project (sister organisation of RSVP Birmingham) for giving us permission to upload the following document on CIS’ters website. 

A Toxic Stress Guide from the GINA Project

To further understand what toxic stress is, we also encourage you to look at the segment on 'The Impact' page on our website which is about Adverse Childhood Experiences  - Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)