Charting the success of stress

A long with Coke, CNN and Visa, stress is rapidly spreading throughout the world. Or at least the word for it is.

In Tokyo, "stress" is enunciated in the midst of a stream of Japanese: "Shujin wa STRESS ga tamaru to okorippoku naru," a Japanese housewife complains to a friend. ("My husband becomes irritable when stress builds up.") On the streets of Moscow, the term suddenly pops up in the middle of this sentence: "V sostoyanii STRESS u menya vsyo valitsya iz ruk." ("In this state of stress I can't do anything right.")

The English syllable is articulated by Hindi speakers in New Delhi, by Chinese speakers in Taiwan, by Spanish speakers in Seville. "Stress" seems to be on loan to most of the major languages of the world. The history or epidemiology of the spread of the English word "stress" has yet to be documented, although it is a foreign entry -- a borrowed term -- in etymological lexicons for Russian, Polish and Bulgarian and in Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary. The word has even propagated among Anglophobic French speakers in Paris, where it can be found in common usage (etat de stress, syndrome de stress) as well as in the "Dictionnaire des Anglicismes: Les Mots Anglais et Americains en Francais." From tongue to tongue there are, of course, variations in the voicing and stressing of "stress." In Spanish it is pronounced "ess- TRESS." In Russian "STRESS-a." In Japanese "su-tor-es-u." Nevertheless, "stress," the Anglophonic sounding sound, is quickly becoming an Esperanto answer to all questions about spiritual, mental and physical well-being. How are you? Etat de stress. Esstress. Stressed out. No one knows exactly how to explain the global success of the word, although it is safe to assume that the contemporary idea of stress was manufactured, patented and labeled in the English- speaking world in the latter half of the 20th century. And it is just as useful as a Visa card and as satisfying as a Coke. But what makes it so useful and satisfying? Why has it been so easy to export in the expanding free market for ideas? One theory is that although stress may have been discovered here, it is a universal fact, a medically proven hazard in Manhattan, Tierra del Fuego or Katmandu. Thanks to American scientists, the rest of the world is finally catching on to the evils of stress and to the health benefits of a leisure society. The word "stress" has old roots in a Low Latin word, "strictus," and ancient meanings like "afflict," "punish" and "pull asunder." Soon after World War II, though, the medical establishment began packaging a new concept of stress, the notion that the trials and tribulations of life trigger a physiological "stress response," resulting in measurable physical and mental illness. In 1950, Dr. Hans Selye, an outspoken physician also trained as an organic chemist, proposed that stress consists of physical changes in the endocrine system, including gastric ulceration and an overdevelopment of the adrenal cortex. In later years, scientists championed other secretions and juices of the body (an increase in catecholamine, a fall in testosterone) as potential signs of a "stress syndrome." (In a similar enterprise, numerous English speaking pop psychologists have tried to translate the existentially laden words we once borrowed from Europe, "Angst," "ennui" and "Weltsch-merz," into medical discourse.) Unfortunately, there may be somewhat less to the medical image of a universal malignant "stress syndrome" than initially meets the eye. Some of the hormonal changes attributed to the "stress response" turn out to be associated with pleasant and health-promoting experiences as well, like sex and sports. And no one has yet traced or verified a true causal connection between secretions of catecholamine (or whatever) and actual human diseases of any kind. The real rub, however, for the theory that "stress" is popular because it is a prevalent malady is that human beings are amazingly resilient. Only a small minority of those exposed to the fiery ordeals of life, like divorce or unemployment, develop a psychiatric disorder or become sick as a consequence. The most recent comprehensive review of stress, "The Effects of Stressful Life Events on Depression," published in the 1997 Annual Review of Psychology by Ronald Kessler of the Harvard Medical School, begins this way: "Despite ample theories of psychopathology and many associated empirical studies, it is uncertain whether stressful life events promote psychiatric disorders." Fortunately, there is an alternative theory to explain the international embrace of "stress." The idea, popular among linguists and ironists, is that the word is exquisitely vague and elusive, unlike, say, "Angst," which points to the psyche or "Weltschmerz," which points to the world. When someone says, "I am stressed out," it isn't clear whether the source of suffering is inside or outside, subjective or objective, mental or physical. The cause of stress may be a harrowing event, a tormented mental state, a physiological impairment or just some chronic sense of cosmic uneasiness. No one knows. Imprecise and evasive language may be a disaster for science but it is a boon in everyday life. "I am stressed out" is non-accusatory, apolitical and detached. It is a good way to keep the peace and, at the same time, a low-cost way to complain. It was not so long ago in the history of the world that pronouncements of suffering were occasions for making accusations and assigning responsibility. Personal misery was explained by pointing a finger at others or at oneself. This created conflict, guilt and ill will, and it often took time, effort and other scarce resources to make amends. To say, "I am stressed out," though, is a no-fault verbal gambit. It is far less costly than claiming a nervous breakdown (which places the blame quite literally on one's mental processing system), less costly than Weltschmerz, or disenchantment with the world (which might require political action or even revolution), less costly than making accusations about being ripped off or put down (which might require legal action), less costly than confessing one's sins (which may require religious faith). That is what makes the expression a ready-made and noncommittal (and indeed noncommittable) response to a variety of unavoidable questions, including "How are you?" "How are things going?" and, by the way, "Why are you behaving that way?" "Stress" keeps a reputation intact. With a declaration of stress, no one is blamed and the sufferer is viewed as someone who actively copes with the strains and pressures of modern cosmopolitan living -- the kind of person who drinks Coke, watches CNN and carries a Visa card. NYT-01-27-97 0935EST

Copyright 1997
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