Depression

When a person is under stress, the body reacts in stages. The first stage is worry or alarm.

Alec was under a lot of stress in football As the quarterback, people expected him to lead the team to victory. Every day the coach worked with him. After practice he would remind Alec, “I'm counting on you, son.” In Alec's mind, a voice kept saying, “Don't blow it, Alec. They'll all hate you if you lose the game.” Because he was wor rying so much, Alec's heart rate increased. His blood pressure went up. He was stressed.

In the second stage, Alec's body tried to resist, or fight, the stress. If he had been able to resist, he could have brought the stress under control. But Alec could not resist. All he could do was worry about what might go wrong. “What if?” he kept asking himself. Constant worry made him do poorly in practice. When his coach got upset and yelled at him, Alec's stress increased.

Since Alec was not able to resist stress, his body went into the third stage, exhaustion. By the day of the game, Alec was so tired he could hardly get out of bed. He hadn't slept well nor eaten properly for days. His mind and body were simply worn out.