Some studies in the sociology of stress conceptualize their outcome variables as distress, while others treat the same outcomes as mental disorder. This article focuses on the importance of distinguishing between the two. It argues that there are fundamental differences between distress that arises in non-disordered persons and genuine mental disorder but that studies of stress typically fail to distinguish between these conditions. The article outlines the historical developments that led the field to conflate distress and disorder. Finally, it indicates some advantages for research, treatment and policy that can accrue when distress that is initiated and maintained by social conditions is distinguished from mental disorders that are dysfunctions of internal psychological mechanisms.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 22. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 20 September 2026.
All research outputs
#2,086,931
of 32,463,143 outputs
Outputs from Health
#73
of 2,421 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,343
of 108,724 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Health
#1
of 3 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,463,143 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 93rd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,421 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 108,724 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 3 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than all of them
