How Social Rejection Causes Stress

Most everyone can name their general stressor in life. The examples that often come to mind are things like work stress, family stress, and feeling stressed out — all fairly vague comments about the general state of things that seem to have obvious sources.

However, there are other common things — things that are less thought of as reasons to enter into this fight-or-flight response that we might not categorize as stress, like social rejection.

Social rejection is something everyone has experienced, and it causes pain every time. Studies show that social rejection lights up the same parts of our brain as physical pain and trauma.

A couple of social rejections in a lifetime is normal and the brain can continue to rationalize those events, but when those rejections become frequent, our brain develops a trauma response to the perception of rejection.

When someone becomes expectant of social rejection, the trauma response can become chronic. Fight-or-flight becomes habitual with what can be every day social interactions. As a result, a person’s health can start to decline.

Rejection — or perceived rejection — can manifest in many ways. In some cases, memories of social rejection can hold the same pain and trauma response that the initial rejection held, creating damage over and over again.

But the underlying theme is feeling a lack of belonging. To not be accepted for your true, authentic self can be traumatic. Social connection is integral to the human experience, and there are so many things that mainstream culture rejects us for.

People are rejected for everything from their gender, to their sexuality, weight, skin color, religious beliefs, and more. All of these things cause us to feel like we don’t belong — to feel socially rejected. And, as a result, we experience a fight-or-flight response chronically, which in part, leads to increased risk of disease.

It should not be taken lightly. Get help if you think, don’t forget to reach out to a top psychologist in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad through oladoc, and Find the Best Doctors in Pakistan, or call our helpline to find the RIGHT Doctor for your health concerns.

My name is Usman and I am working with oladoc.com— Pakistan’s premier digital health company. Using oladoc, you can find a top psychologist in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad, and seek appointment online.