Frankie Cordeira Jr.

Description: Stress Can Make Us More Empathetic By: Gemma Unwin | Stress is a top concern for Americans of all ages with up to 75 per cent of adults having reportedmoderate to high levels of stressin the previous month and teens between the ninth and 12thgrade also beleaguered by stress and tension. According to the American Psychological Association it is vital that youths in particular learn how to handle stress since chronic stress can have long-term health implications (including a higher risk of heart disease and Type II diabetes). Stress occurs at schools in the workplace and sometimes at home. High stress is a negative factorfor those facing challenging tasks such as addiction recovery. Stress can act as a trigger for relapse into substance abuse or lead to the adoption of other self-destructive behaviors. Despite all the negative effects of stress one recent study has found that stress may have one positive effect: an ability to increase our empathy towards others. The studycarried out by scientists at the University of Vienna showed that when under stress human beings also display an increase in prosocial behavior. The study involved the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to asses the stress response of study participants who were exposed to stress while they tried to empathize with someone else. A total of 80 participants were instructed to empathize with others while resolving difficult tasks within a set period of time. While they tried to complete their tasks they were given negative feedback to make the experience even more stressful. The scientists elicited the effects of this added stress by measuring levels of stress hormone cortisol in participants. The scientists then asked the participants to look at photographs of painful medical procedures and to imagine the pain experienced by the patient. For some of the images participants were told that the patient had received anesthesia to differentiate between their automatic reaction to the harsh imagery and the actual feelings of the patient. The aim was to study the participants ability to empathize with the pain (or lack of pain) felt by the person in each photograph. The researchers then instructed participants to play the dictator game in which they were told to distribute an amount of money between themselves and a stranger in whatever proportion they deemed best. The results of the fMRI scans showed that participants expressed greater neural empathy towards those undergoing the painful medical procedures when the participants were stressed. However their reaction was just as strong when they knew the patient was anesthetized. This showed that although they were more empathetic they lacked perspective since they felt sorry for those who were not actually experiencing pain. The stress they were forced to face actually hampered their ability to process the complex information about the situation the patient was actually in. The scientists noted that sometimes such a strong emotional response may result in a reaction that is uncalled for. Therefore as lead researcher Claus Lamm noted depending on the context and situation stress can be either beneficial or detrimental in social situations. Meanwhile an associate professor at UC Berkeley Daniela Kaufer notes thatstress doesnt always have to be a bad thing: The stress response is designed to help us react when something potentially threatening happens to help us deal with it and learn from it. Our research showsthat moderate short-lived stress can improve alertness and performance and boost memory. Moderate stress then can increase alertness and performance while extreme stress has the opposite effect. Stress improves memory by stimulating the growth of stem cells which develop into brain cells. The process stems from the need to evolve; if an animal encounters a stressful situation they need to remember all the details the where how and why of the event in order to avoid it in the future. Moderate stress is also helpful when we have an important task to complete such as an exam or work project. Chronic stress on the other hand has negative effects of the body. For instance it can cause blood vessels to constrict thereby leading to heart disease. Laboratory tests meanwhile have shown that chronic stress can lead to a drop in fertility. Extreme stress can also lead to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) a very difficult condition to overcome. Those with PTSD are unable to forget the stressful event they faced and become overcome by trauma. It is important to note that each of us responds to stress in a different way therefore an event which may be extremely stressful to one person may actually be bearable or even enjoyable to another. Those facing chronic or extreme stress should seek professional help to overcome the long-term effects of stress in their lives. The post Stress Can Make Us More Empathetic appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
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