Stress comes in many different forms and affects people differently. Even the same person can experience stress differently at different times.

The most effective way to manage stress is to understand what type of stress you’re dealing with in the moment so you can take action to decompress it quickly. 

Once you understand what type of stress you’re experiencing and how to stop your body’s stress response quickly, you’ll be better able to protect your health from the effects of chronic stress. 

 In 1979 Dr. Karl Albrecht defined 4 Types of Stress in his book, “Stress and the Manager”.

The book was written for people who are in positions of leadership such as managers and team leads, but the concepts really do apply to everyone.

So, what are the 4 Types of Stress? Here’s an overview.

Time Stress

Like the name implies, time stress has to do with how you relate to time. Are you always hurrying, worrying about deadlines, running late, and feeling there’s never enough time to do all the things that need to be done? 

Many people experience time stress on a daily basis. But with a little forethought and planning, much of your time stress can be managed and a lot of it can simply be eliminated.

Like the name implies, Time Stress has to do with how you relate to time.

Anticipatory Stress 

Those who experience anticipatory stress tend to worry about upcoming events. They anticipate a negative or difficult outcome. They may even feel a sense of dread or vague anxiety over unknown causes. They dread the future or fear that something will go wrong, often without even having a clear picture of what that might be or what it might be about. In other words, they feel anxiety or dread and can’t pinpoint exactly what is triggering the feeling. But they feel it nevertheless.

Nervous Nellie or Worry Wart are names often associated with people who suffer frequent anticipatory stress.

This type of stress keeps you awake at night. It makes your stomach churn. It creates fear and keeps you from enjoying life in the moment.

Those who experience Anticipatory Stress tend to worry about upcoming events and anticipate a negative or difficult outcome.

Situational Stress

This type of stress is typically related to a person, place or event and is often experienced as a feeling of loss of control over a situation. 

Examples of Situational Stress are: A job loss, confrontation or conflict with another person, an emergency, fear of loss of esteem or loss of acceptance. 

Other examples of Situational Stress can be related to job expectations. First Responders often experience frequent Situational Stress. First Responders include police officers, firefighters, paramedics, rescuers, nurses, doctors and other front line professionals.

Another occupation with high Situational Stress is parenting. 

Every occupation, relationship or life event has the potential for Situational Stress.

Situational Stress is typically related to a person, place or event and is often experienced as a feeling of loss of control over a situation.

Encounter Stress 

Encounter stress happens to those who have frequent personal encounters or contact with others throughout the day. Especially when in contact with people who have problems, those who are in distress and those who are experiencing conflict. 

Doctors, nurses, social workers, customer service representatives, managers, therapists, clerks, clergy… these are all examples of occupations that involve high levels of Encounter Stress. 

People in these types of situations develop contact overload and often they feel exhausted, overwhelmed and drained. 

People with Encounter Stress can develop contact overload and often feel exhausted, overwhelmed and drained. 

Putting It Together

Everyone experiences each of these types of stress at some point.

But depending on your occupation, lifestyle or associations you may experience a particular type of stress more often than the others.

Knowing which type of stress you’re experiencing in the moment can help you identify ways to manage that stress trigger more quickly. 

When you feel your body’s stress response kick in, identify which type of stress you’re experiencing and is this type of stress chronic for you? 

Then decide whether it’s possible to eliminate the stress trigger completely? For example, can you manage your time better so you’re not always late? If you can’t eliminate the trigger, think about ways you can at least reduce the frequency or the intensity of each event. 

Apply my Emerge Empowered Blueprint for healing.

Here’s what that looks like: Assessment, Stabilization, Diagnosis, Treatment and Check-Up

Assessment: What are my symptoms, my signs of stress or my body’s SOS signals? 

Stabilization: What do I need to do to halt or reverse my stress response quickly? This is Decompression and will help stabilize you so you can function again and will buy you time as you begin to diagnose what is causing this stress response to be activated. 

Diagnosis: Do I need a Lifestyle reDesign or a Mindset shift to help treat the cause of this stress event? Or do I need both? Hint: it’s usually both. What is within my control and what is outside of my control? 

Treatment: What can I do about it and what will I do about it? Creating a Treatment Plan that works for you and with you to treat the cause of your stress triggers.

Check-Up: No treatment plan is complete without a checkup to check-in and evaluate the effectiveness of your chosen Treatment Plan.

As you learn to identify which type of stress you’re dealing with and then apply my Emerge Empowered Blueprint for healing, you’ll begin to see patterns in your behavior and your response to the people, circumstances and events in your life. 

Being aware helps you recognize your triggers faster, so you can eliminate them if possible or if you aren’t able to eliminate them completely, put some thought into how you can decrease the frequency or intensity of your personal stress triggers.