How Stress Is Sabotaging Your Emotional Control

For people with anxiety or fear, cognitive behavioral therapy can be a useful tool to help keep those emotions under control. But a new study suggests that stress could interfere with the success of these types of cognitive strategies.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ^[1] , shows that stress might undercut the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy.

Specifically, researchers from New York University, Stanford University, Hunter College and SUNY Downstate College of Medicine found that when exposed to stress, study participants trained to employ cognitive techniques in response to fears still experienced it when exposed to fear triggers. Meanwhile, people not exposed to stress didn't experience as high of levels of fear, suggesting they were able to successfully employ the cognitive techniques.

"We have long suspected that stress can impair our ability to control our emotions ^[2] , but this is the first study to document how even mild stress can undercut therapies designed to keep our emotions in check," study researcher Elizabeth Phelps, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science at NYU, said in a statement. "In other words, what you learn in the clinic may not be as relevant in the real world when you're stressed."

For the study, researchers first had participants go through "fear conditioning," where they were conditioned to experience fear in response to viewing images of snakes or spiders. Researchers accomplished this by applying a mild shock to the wrists of the study participants in response to some of the photos.

Then, the researchers taught the study participants strategies (similar to those used in cognitive behavioral therapy) to help reduce those fears they were conditioned to feel.

On day two of the experiment, researchers split the participants up into two groups: one was a "stress group" -- where they had to put their hands in icy water for three minutes to prompt a stress response -- and the other was a "control group" -- where they put their hands in mildly warm water, and no stress response was provoked. To gauge levels of stress from this part of the experiment, researchers took measures of the study participants' cortisol (stress hormone) levels.

Shortly thereafter, the researchers had all the study participants look again at the images of snakes or spiders. They found that those who were in the stress group experienced no reductions in fear when looking at these images, which suggests the stress undermined their ability to employ the anti-fear strategies they learned the day prior. Meanwhile, those in the control group did experience a reduction in fear.

While some stress is not a bad thing ^[3] -- and is in fact natural -- chronic stress and the way we react to stress can affect our health. A recent study in the journal Psychological Science showed that people who have negative emotions from everyday stressors ^[4] are more likely to develop depression or anxiety later on. And another study, in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine, showed that anxiety about stress could raise the risk of chronic health conditions ^[5] 10 years down the road.

For more surprising effects of stress, click through the slideshow:

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Weird And/Or Recurring Dreams

"Unfortunately, the stress we deal with during the day <a href="http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/5-most-common-stress-dreams">tends to follow us to bed at night and plays out in our dreams</a>," Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, author of Dream On It -- Unlock Your Dreams, Change Your Life, wrote for DoctorOz.com. Maybe you don't realize you're burning the candle at both ends until that dream comes back where you miss your bus or your house is on fire, two of the five most common stress dreams, according to Loewenberg. However, these dreams might help you pinpoint what exactly is stressing you out -- and can <a href="http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/health/stress-relief/stress-busters/signs-of-stress/?page=5">help you work through why you're feeling that way</a>, Fitness magazine reports.

Tight Muscles

That "I could use a massage" feeling isn't just about a brief oasis from the real (read: stressful) world. Turns out, <a href="http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/stress-management/9-surprising-symptoms-of-stress-104938">stress causes us to tense our muscles</a> and can even trigger muscle spasms, leaving us in some serious pain, Woman's Day reported.

Twitching

Speaking of spasms -- ever had a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/why-do-my-eyelids-twitch_n_1844041.html">funny eye twitch</a>? Stress could be to blame. While there's not exactly hard evidence to prove it, many people who complain of a twitch also say they're tired or stressed.

Tooth Trouble

A number of people grind their teeth in their sleep -- or "chew over the day's stressors," Debbie Mandel, author of Addicted to Stress: A Woman’s 7-Step Program to Reclaim Joy and Spontaneity in Life, told Fitness. Others may simply clench their jaw while awake and stressed, often without realizing it. But both can lead to pain -- and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5661148&page=1#.ULeQxdPjmD0">grinding can even crack teeth</a>. Your dentist can tell you if there's visible damage and set you up with a mouth guard to prevent further stress-induced wear and tear.

Changes In Your Menstrual Cycle

Women may experience late or missed periods due to stress. Some may even experience a condition know as <a href="http://www.everydayhealth.com/pms/managing-stress-during-pms.aspx">secondary amenorrhea</a>, when the cycle seems to completely stop, according to Everyday Health. Other stressed women may find their periods continue on a regular schedule -- but feel far worse. Stress can make <a href="http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/health/stress-relief/stress-busters/signs-of-stress/?page=4">cramps up to twice as painful</a>, according to Fitness.

Losing Hair Or Going Gray

You've probably heard someone say stress is turning them gray -- but it turns out we're <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/gray-hair-stress-beauty-myths_n_1885646.html">more likely to lose hair when stressed</a>, HuffPost Style reported. However, if you are already genetically predisposed to going gray, traumatic events and periods of intense stress could speed up the process. The Mayo Clinic explains that stress can cause white blood cells to <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-and-hair-loss/AN01442">attack the hair follicle</a> and stop growth, and it may also put hair follicles into a "resting phase," so hairs fall out during washing or combing. Others experience <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/trichotillomania-disorder-olivia-munn_n_1723757.html">trichotillomania</a> when stressed or anxious, which gives them an irresistible urge to pull out hair on the scalp or other areas, like eyebrows and eyelashes.

An Upset Stomach

Stress can mess with your stomach in ways as simple as a bout of the butterflies. But it can also cause more serious reactions, including <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001292/">irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS</a>. While the link between stress and gastro problems is not entirely understood, it seems to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001292/">make the intestines more sensitive and contract more</a>, according to the A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia.

Super Sniffles

Stress lowers our immune system, leaving us at risk for frequent colds. One study found that the people who reported high levels of stress were <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/17/stress-symptoms-health-forbes-woman-well-being-exercise_slide_3.html">twice as likely to catch a cold</a>. The stress hormone cortisol seems to turn down the volume on the body's inflammatory response, Health.com reported, to "free up energy" to fight off whatever the threat that's causing the stress. "Stressed people's immune cells become less sensitive to cortisol," Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., the study's author and a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, told Health.com. "They're unable to regulate the inflammatory response, and therefore, when they're exposed to a virus, they're more likely to develop a cold."