ABSTRACT
Stress-induced illnesses have become a huge global problem. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), mental health disorders and cardiovascular
diseases – both of which are clearly affected by stress – are expected to be the
two major contributors to illnesses in all parts of the world, with mental health
disorders calculated for all age groups and both sexes, by the year 2020 (WHO,
2008). Stress is not an illness per se; rather, stress reactions are natural and
necessary – they serve to sharpen our senses and make us more effi cient. In
the event of a perceived threat, stress reactions trigger our ‘fi ght or fl ight’
refl exes that helped our early ancestors survive (Atkinson et al., 1996). During
stress, our body organs react in many different ways, and if stress is sustained
for an inappropriately long time without the possibility of recovery, these reac-
tions become dysfunctional and harmful, with the risk of causing serious and
harmful effects on all vital organs (Aldwin, 2007). For early humankind, who
lived on nature’s terms, the body’s own adaptation mechanisms were suited to
their purpose. Today, many psychiatric diseases in particular are strongly asso-
ciated with prolonged and incorrect stress reactions, the foremost being
depression and fatigue syndromes (Aldwin, 2007). The widespread exhaustion
and fatigue reactions caused by prolonged stress that we now face in Europe
are a serious problem. In its latest report, the European Working Conditions
Survey states that ‘Work-related stress is one of the most common work-
related health problems, affecting 22 per cent of European workers, and the
sectors most at risk are health and social service and education’ (Parent-Thirion
et al., 2007). The WHO has rated stress as one of the major causes of death in
the developed world, and consequently has made stress-related diseases a
priority health prevention area (WHO, 2008).
