The human brain receives messages from several sources, each dealing with separate types of information. Input dealing with everyday matters such as news, music, hobbies, relationships, weather, etc. comes from the external environment. Our own bodies provide data concerning movement, digestion, tension, pain, etc., all in the form of messages sent to the brain.
The conscious mind deals with reasoning logic, decisions, goal planning and conscious activity. The subconscious mind wields the greatest influence. It receives all the messages from our social, spiritual and genetic backgrounds and all the conflicts and disturbances which enter our consciousness each day. The subconscious mind receives and holds its information, neither accepting nor rejecting messages. It does not evaluate. That procedure is reserved for the conscious mind.
From primitive times, the human animal has possessed an escape mechanism that even today, under severely threatening conditions, can cause regression to primitive behaviour. The fight/flight response, a means of dealing with fears, threats, attacks and other disturbances, has gained tolerance through evolution with the addition of reaction vs. action and repression vs. depression. Without these, when the message input volume reached overload conditions, the escaped would be toward the denial reality. However, the desire for social acceptance provides motivation to cope with and adapt to reality.
Nevertheless, when the conscious mind can no longer handle the messages overloading the brain, the subconscious prepares us for fight or flight. But sometimes there is nothing to fight. We can’t fight the environment. We can’t fight a job, an accident, a bad decision. What now?
Unable to fight, the reaction turns to the alternative of flight, which in present day life can prove impossible. Often a state of apathy, depression and/or hypersuggestibility ensues. Negative input finds acceptance. Futility and melancholy develop and overreaction to the senses develops together with a loss of tolerance. The road turns downhill.
A person experiencing continual stress may well become subject to such frenzy, in the process developing any or several forms of stress-related illness. While certain types of stress are even desirable (romantic stress, job promotions, winning a lottery), stresses that produce debilitation, depression, excessive smoking, overeating, anger, grief and similar reactions need attention and usually professional help.
Again, causal factors need to be investigated. Stress may be a reaction to people, places, events or things. The threats may be real or imagined. The subconscious mind does not analyze and, usually, by the time depression appears, the conscious mind has lost its ability to do so. There are several common basic causes of stress which can be recognized, defined and often eliminated.
Every individual is different in tolerance levels, coping abilities, reaction and therapeutic needs. Many people don’t realize they are stressed until they are in a state of ‘overwhelm’
