Psihološki stres je odnos između osobe i okoline, koji osoba procjenjuje kao vrlo zahtjevan ili odnos koji prelazi njezine mogućnosti i ugrožava njezinu dobrobit. Stresove možemo podijeliti prema intenzitetu na male svakodnevne stresove, velike životne stresove i traumatske životne stresove. Prema vremenu trajanja ti stresovi mogu biti akutni ili kronični. Tijekom procesa procjene samog stresa osoba pokušava prosuditi je li određen događaj iz okoline značajan za njezinu dobrobit ili nije. Razlikujemo procjenu zahtjeva ili primarnu kognitivnu procjenu i procjenu resursa ili sekundarnu kognitivnu procjenu. U primarnu procjenu se ubrajaju: procjena izazova, procjena prijetnje i procjena gubitka, odnosno štete. Sekundarna je procjena resursa. U resurse se ubrajaju: socijalni resursi, materijalni resursi i osobni resursi. Postoje dva načina suočavanja sa stresom: suočavanje usmjereno na problem i suočavanje usmjereno na emocije. Suočavanje usmjereno na problem češće se koristi u situacijama u kojima osoba ima viši stupanj kontrole, dok se suočavanje usmjereno na emocije češće koristi u situacijama u kojima osoba ima niži stupanj kontrole. Psychological stress is a relationship between a person and the environment, which a person evaluates as a very demanding, or a relationship that exceeds one’s capabilities and threatens one’s well-being. Stresses can be divided according to their intensity into small daily stresses, major life stresses and traumatic life stresses. Depending on the duration, these stresses can be acute or chronic. During the stress assessment process, a person attempts to estimate whether a certain event from the environment is significant for one’s well-being or not. We distinguish between request assessment or primary cognitive assessment, and resource assessment or secondary cognitive assessment. The primary assessment includes: assessment of challenges, assessment of threat and assessment of loss / damage. The assessment of resources is secondary. The resources include: social resources, material resources and personal resources. There are two ways of coping with stress: problem - focused coping and emotion – focused coping. Problem - focused coping is more frequently used in situations where a person has a higher degree of control, while emotion - focused coping is more often used in situations where a person has a lower degree of control.