For instance, hypertension, restlessness, irascibility, and irrational fear combined with rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, headache, and indigestion may indicate neurasthenia, or a "nervous breakdown." Stress is well-nigh ubiquitous in its effect on health and bodily systems, and the illnesses most closely related to it are termed psychosomatic.
壓力對生理的影響，可以說是「無孔不入」，身體的每一個系統都可能被干擾，而被認為與壓力相關性高的疾病稱為心身症。一般人認為工商界人士易得的十二指腸潰瘍、偏頭痛、甲狀腺機能亢進都屬於心身症。