Use Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs To Pinpoint Causes Of Stress}

Submitted by: Angel Noyal

In his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Abraham Maslow published what he called his hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy of needs detailed the order in which human beings need to have and feel certain things in order to feel fulfilled in life.

If someone doesn’t have certain life requirements fulfilled, the result is often stress.

If you find yourself stressed in your life but can’t pinpoint an exact reason, try using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to help figure out precisely why you’re stressed out.

Here’s each level of Maslow’s hierarchy along with why and how each level can cause stress in your life.

==> Physiological & Physical

The first level is common sense: It deals strictly with physical well being.

Most people don’t fall into the category of lacking food, air, water or shelter.

If you’re lacking any of those things, you would naturally be stressed. Assuming you have them covered, your problem likely is not this area.

==> Safety & Security

A lot of stress in modern society falls into this category.

This category deals with anything that might eventually lead to poor physical safety.

For example, if you don’t have a good sense of job security, that could lead to a lot of stress. If your paycheck stops, that means you stop providing food for you and your family.

If you’re constantly struggling to pay rent, again that will cause stress, because it threatens your long term security.

Before you can handle anything else in your life, you need to make sure your long term safety and security is handled.

Handling your long term security with a solid job, an insurance plan you can count on and having some savings in the bank can greatly reduce stress.

==> Love and Belonging

Once all your physical and safety needs are met, the next step up is love and belonging.

This includes all friendships, love relationships and social circles.

If you’re feeling left out and like you don’t belong, that’s going to cause stress. Not as much stress as if you were worried about losing a job, but still a lot of stress none the less.

Likewise, if you want to have a relationship but haven’t found the right person yet, that can also be stressful.

This type of stress often builds up over long periods of time rather than hitting all at once.

==> Esteem

Maslow noticed that there were two different kinds of esteem people needed: Self-esteem and being esteemed by others.

If you don’t respect yourself because you’re out of integrity with your own values, that will cause a subtle but powerful stress on your emotional system.

Likewise, if the people who surround you on a day to day basis look down on you or don’t respect you, that also causes a subtle but significant stress.

==> Self-Actualization

Finally, people want to be all that they’re capable of being. They want to feel like they’re making a difference in the world and that they’re growing as a human being.

These needs are categorized in a hierarchy – Meaning that the first level needs to be handled before the next. Security needs to be handled before someone can think of a relationship.

Which areas of your own life do you think are lacking on this scale? There may be several areas you can identify. For example, you might want a secure job, a girlfriend and self-actualization.

What this hierarchy allows you to do is figure out what to focus on first. By handling your job first, you’ll create a solid base for yourself and drastically reduce your stress. Then getting a girlfriend to handle your love and belonging needs and finally focusing on self-actualization and being all you can be.

About the Author: Angel Noyal is a famous and dedicated motivational blog writer. Her articles are mostly about self motivation. Her current articles are on

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