How You Can Manage Psychosocial Stress

Whenever we find ourselves in circumstances where we feel left out, excluded, or like we just don’t belong, it’s psychosocial stress. This type of stress has affected all of us at one point or another and it can have a significant toll on our mental health. There are lots of situations that can trigger this type of stress and it’s usually connected to our hard-wired need to feel connected to the people in our lives and our community.

Psychosocial stress is the result of a cognitive appraisal (your mental interpretation) of what is at stake and what can be done about it. More simply put, psychosocial stress results when we look at a perceived social threat in our lives (real or even imagined) and discern that it may require resources we don’t have.

What Is Psychosocial Stress?

Examples of psychosocial stress can include anything that translates to a perceived threat to our social status, social esteem, respect, and/or acceptance within a group; a threat to our self-worth; or a threat that we feel we have no control over.

So, for instance, if someone we’re friends with leaves us on read or if we find out we weren’t invited to a party it can trigger a stress response.

All of these threats can lead to a stress response in the body. These can be some of the most taxing stressors to deal with, as they can make us feel unsupported and alienated. This can make it more difficult to cope.

When psychosocial stress triggers a stress response, the body releases a group of stress hormones includingcortisol,epinephrine(or adrenalin), and dopamine, which leads to a burst of energy as well as other changes in the body (including thefight-or-flight response).

Epinephrine can also mobilize energy, but create negative psychological and physical outcomes with prolonged exposure. That’s why it’s important to manage psychosocial stress in our lives so that the stress response is only triggered when necessary. It’s also important to learnstress relief techniquesto effectively reverse the stress response so we don’t experience prolonged states of stress orchronic stress.

There are several ways to manage psychosocial stress, because it involves factors on the outside (what we’re dealing with) and the inside (our thoughts about it), and can affect multiple areas of our lives. Here are some strategies that can help.

How Your Stress Response Works

How to Cope With Psychosocial Stress

Develop Your Conflict Resolution Skills

Conflict is an almost inevitable part of any relationship. People are going to have disagreements and are going to want different things.

Effective Conflict Resolution Skills

Focus on Supportive Friends and Avoid Drama

If you think about it, you know who you can trust to support you and who you can’t. There might be people who you wish you were closer friends with but maybe the reality is that they don’t actually make you feel that good about yourself.

Simply spending more time with those who make your life easier and minimizing time spent with those who make you feel stressed can significantly reduce your psychosocial stress. It won’t cut out all of the stress you experience, but it canstop a lot of it.

Try a Shift in Perspective

Changing how you look at something, or just shifting what you focus on can make a difference in your stress levels—it can make something that seems like a big deal feel less so. When put in a different perspective, everything can feel less stressful.

How Cognitive Reframing Works

Find Stress Management Strategies That Work for You

Finding ways tomanage your overall stress levelcan help you to be less reactive to psychosocial stress, or any specific stressor. The key is to find something that works well for you and something that fits well in your life and with your personality.

Some options for stress management include mindfulness meditation, breathwork, taking a walk, spending time in nature, or journaling. Therapy can also be an immensely effective tool for dealing with psychosocial stress.

The Best Online Therapy ProgramsWe’ve tried, tested and written unbiased reviews of the best online therapy programs including Talkspace, Betterhelp, and Regain.

4 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Kogler L, Müller VI, Chang A, et al.Psychosocial versus physiological stress - Meta-analyses on deactivations and activations of the neural correlates of stress reactions.Neuroimage. 2015;119:235-51. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.059Ranabir S, Reetu K.Stress and hormones.Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2011;15(1):18-22. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.77573Maya J, Lorence B, Hidalgo V, Jiménez L.The role of psychosocial stress on a family-based treatment for adolescents with problematic behaviors.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(9). doi:10.3390/ijerph15091867Worthen M, Cash E.Stress Management. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.

4 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Kogler L, Müller VI, Chang A, et al.Psychosocial versus physiological stress - Meta-analyses on deactivations and activations of the neural correlates of stress reactions.Neuroimage. 2015;119:235-51. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.059Ranabir S, Reetu K.Stress and hormones.Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2011;15(1):18-22. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.77573Maya J, Lorence B, Hidalgo V, Jiménez L.The role of psychosocial stress on a family-based treatment for adolescents with problematic behaviors.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(9). doi:10.3390/ijerph15091867Worthen M, Cash E.Stress Management. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.

Kogler L, Müller VI, Chang A, et al.Psychosocial versus physiological stress - Meta-analyses on deactivations and activations of the neural correlates of stress reactions.Neuroimage. 2015;119:235-51. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.059Ranabir S, Reetu K.Stress and hormones.Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2011;15(1):18-22. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.77573Maya J, Lorence B, Hidalgo V, Jiménez L.The role of psychosocial stress on a family-based treatment for adolescents with problematic behaviors.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(9). doi:10.3390/ijerph15091867Worthen M, Cash E.Stress Management. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.

Ranabir S, Reetu K.Stress and hormones.Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2011;15(1):18-22. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.77573

Maya J, Lorence B, Hidalgo V, Jiménez L.The role of psychosocial stress on a family-based treatment for adolescents with problematic behaviors.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(9). doi:10.3390/ijerph15091867

Worthen M, Cash E.Stress Management. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?

What Is Psychosocial Stress?#

How to Cope With Psychosocial Stress#

Develop Your Conflict Resolution Skills#

Focus on Supportive Friends and Avoid Drama#

Try a Shift in Perspective#

Find Stress Management Strategies That Work for You#