Stress Level : Combating and Reducing
Symptoms Signs and Causes

If you've been wondering what degree of stress you live under, here is a quick way to get a fair estimate. Dr. Thomas and Dr. Richard Rahe composed a table of events and the amount of stress they cause. The most interesting feature of this table is that the people they interviewed actually told them, how they could rate specific events for the stress they cause, so this is human rather than a medical appraisal of the degree of stress those events caused As you get used to certain changes in your life, they become less stressful, so these ratings will not be entirely accurate for you. If, for example, you take a vacation only every five years, you might rate it a 25 instead of a 13. The common starting point used was a standard rate of 50 for marriage for all the people interviewed.

The combined total of both positive and negative stresses in the past few months will give you an idea of your current stress level. Keep in mind that people have varying stress-handling capacities and this table does not take into account such regular stresses as recreational drug use, alcoholism, chronic illness, allergy, battering and random stresses such as car accidents, contest winning to the dreaded tax audit. This is presented as information only and should not be used for diagnostic or treatment purposes.

EVENT

• Death of spouse 100
• Divorce 73
• Marital separation 65
• Jail term 63
• Death of a close family member 63
• Personal Injury or illness 53
• Marriage 50
• Fired at work 47
• Marital reconciliation 45
• Retirement 45
• Change In health of family member 44
• Pregnancy 40
• Sexual difficulties 39
• Addition of new family member 39
• Business of adjustment 39
• Change in financial status 38
• Death of a close friend 37
• Change to different line of work 36
• Change in number of arguments with spouse 35
• Mortgage over $10,000 31
• Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30
• Change in job responsibilities 29
• Son or daughter leaving home 29
• Trouble with in-laws 29
• Outstanding personal achievement 28
• Wife or husband begins or stops work 26
• Beginning or end of school 26
• Change in living conditions 25
• Revision of personal habits 24
• Trouble with boss 23
• Change in work hours or conditions 20
• Change in residence 20
• Change in school 20
• Change in recreational activities 19
• Change in church activities 19
• Mortgage or loan under $10,000 17
• Change in sleeping habits 16
• Change in number of family get-togethers 15
• Change in eating habits 15
• Vacation 13
• Christmas 12
• Minor violations of the law 11

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