Social Health and Stress

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of stress, which is a companion to the social health of any person, specially in an industrial society. Social health is an essential criterion of the population’s quality of life; a decisive factor of social development; an essential manifestation of social justice, stability, and human achievement. In other words, social health means a person’s ability to engage with society fully. The authors emphasise that the stressor response increases the body's resistance to any impact and is protective and adaptive. The authors also argue that stress is a destructive factor that manifests itself not only in the economy of any country but also in the social health of an individual: various ulcers, cardiovascular diseases, and nervous exhaustion. The authors draw attention to occupational stress as a multidimensional phenomenon expressed in mental and physical reactions to stressful situations in human labour activity. The authors identify  a direct correlation between stress and social health and suggest some ways to minimise this phenomenon. One of the ways to minimise stress at the individual level is through the disclosure of the complex mechanisms of the human psyche, using images-images that are accessible to each individual: “internal clock”, “agreeable”, “high achiever” and “critical judge”. Each hypostasis has mechanisms to palliate stressful situations, which is extremely important, especially today when society constantly generates stress due to crises, epidemics, and wars.