There's stress and then there's toxic stress — that feeling of being chronically overwhelmed, anxious, or depressed. Catherine Monk, Ph.D. studies the effect this kind of stress has on babies before they're born. She sat down with KPCC's early childhood reporter Devin Browne to explain more.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STRESS AND TOXIC STRESS? IS IT JUST A MATTER OF DEGREE?
It’s degree, but it’s also what’s contributing to the stress. We all have stress about getting an assignment done for work or school, going in front of an audience in some way — life is challenging. There are stressors in it. Toxic stress, though, tends to be threats to our self and our self-integrity, either from domestic violence or from not knowing where our next meal is coming from, housing insecurities, past abuse that’s never been resolved, very acrimonious relationships – so that if we’re pregnant, we’re not sure where the support is going to come from for our child, really unresolvable tensions between work and demands at home. It’s usually chronic and can take the form of depression or anxiety or both.
[For more of this story, written by Devin Browne, go to http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/...uture-depends-on-it/]
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