ACTA FAC. MED. NAISS. 2006; 23 (3): 163-169

   Professional article

Jovica Jovanovic¹, Konstantinos Lazaridis², Violeta Stefanovic³
 

¹ Institute of Occupational Health, Nis
² AHEPA Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
³ Public Health Center, Kursumlija

    Occupational stress was perceived to be a problem only in jobs with high pressure and low pay, such as teaching and social services. Today, occupational stress has become an epidemic spreading like wildfire. Organizations lose much money in stress-related accidents, lost productivity, absenteeism, and medical insurance costs.

    Physical symptoms of occupational stress are: headaches, digestive problems, sleep deprivation, rashes or hives, heartburn, night sweats, diminished sexual desire, menstrual irregularities, chronic back pain, muscle tensions, loss of appetite, weight gain. Emotional or mental symptoms of occupational stress are: increased anger, frustration, depression, moodiness, anxiousness, problems with memory, fatigue, and increased use of nicotine, alcohol and drugs. Work related symptoms are: increased absenteeism, accidents on the job, and complaints from coworkers, decrease in work productivity, and difficulty in understanding office procedures, job absenteeism, and taking long coffee breaks, excessive personal time on the telephone or internet.

    Many attempts have been made to identify causes of stressful job events. There are essentially three different, but overlapping, approaches to the definition and study of stress. The engineering and physiological approaches are obvious among the earlier theories of stress, while the more psychological approaches characterize contemporary stress theory.

    Key words: occupational stress, causes of occupational stress, theories, workers, workplace