Stress is usually caused by one or more of the following conditions: anxiety, frustration, distress, despair, antagonism, exhaustion, overwork, pre-menstrual tension, confusion, mourning, over-focusing, and fear. The use of the term became popular in modern times and was adopted by areas of psychology, astrology, self-help, psychotherapy, and even quackery. Well, it's little surprise given the generalness of the term.
But the use of the term stress in medical cases such as those of post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosomatic illness has helped to make people take the term more serious if still not well-defined as to what it is and what the simptoms and effects are. Most people have had some experience with serious stress and some varieties of stress from negative life events (distress) and from positive life events (eustress) can clearly have a serious physical impact on the physical body.
