Mapping of occupational stress prevalent among professionals

Abstract

            The life brings a lot of surprises and put us in difficult condition every day, succumbing to great stress which leads to a disease, and it does not matter what century it is (Dewer 2002; Abbott 2001). Occurrence of stressful life events and voluminous amount of perceived stress over a longer period of time results into poorer mental and physical health. (Epel et. al., 2018, O’Connor et. al., 2021). WHO defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity” (WHO, 1984; WHO, 2020, p. 1). Stress is like two sides of a coin. Stress manifests itself in good ways or bad ways i.e. Eustress and Distress. Eustress- ‘good stress’- a positive cognitive response to a stressor that is healthy, or gives one a feeling of fulfilment, life satisfaction and wellbeing, while Distress- ‘bad stress’- a persistent stress with negative implications that is not resolved through coping or adaptation and may lead to anxiety, withdrawal and depressive behaviour. A very fine line differentiates eustress and distress. When this eustress will turn into distress, it depends on individual’s perception towards stressor (e.g. a negative threat versus a positive challenge). Technology is changing, so are social habits, values, social structures and people. Everybody has to cope with those changes, not only individuals, but the organizations and government as well (Thompson, 2002). Job stress or occupational stress at workplaces needs timely attention so as to not affect behaviour and work attitude of an employee (Satija and Khan, 2013).