• Stress in cocksure circumstances may be experienced positively

• Eustress, for example, can be an adaptive response prompting the activation of inherent resources to meet challenges and achieve goals.

Its psychological uses are frequently metaphorical rather than literal, accustomed as a catch-all for perceived difficulties in life. It Stress Balls also became a euphemism, a way of referring to problems and eliciting sympathy without being explicitly confessional, just "stressed out". In accepted usage almost any event or situation between these extremes could be described as stressful. The most extreme events and reactions may elicit the diagnosis of Posttraumatic stress disorder.