3rdblade:Trista = depressed, melancholy, burdened?

Just sad in general? (perhaps leaning more to depressed, but more intense, and in a much shorter amount of time I think with emotions in pays to have a variety of options. If I'm sad I might not want to go into further detail with someone else. I might not want to allude to a root cause - or I simply might not know, and need to give some indication as to what my feelings are.

But you're right, context should still help, and I often do say that I'm unhappy, but occasionally no doubt "trista" and "kolera" etc would all come in handy, or at least would be good in times of emergencies.

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Was stressed not used back before? I thought the joke was that they were pretending they weren't stressed to act all tough to the kids and show them how real people handle problems (apathy which then frustrates the children )

Perhaps trista means "malgaja (or malfeliĉa), but with the qualification that one knows big words like trista".

ceigered:Was stressed not used back before? I thought the joke was that they were pretending they weren't stressed to act all tough to the kids and show them how real people handle problems (apathy which then frustrates the children )

It came into vogue not that long ago, more from law and psychology than medicine, I'd say. As far as I can see it's just poetic shorthand for 'tiredness caused by many burdens and not enough rest'. But unlike tiredness, which can be cured with good food, rest and slowing down, 'stress' seems a little more permanent and uncurable. Which is probably why lawyers like it! "Due to emotional stress my client demands 1 million dollars!"

I am not a physiologist, but doesn't the body have specific stress hormones, levels of which can be permanently raised?

sudanglo:I am not a physiologist, but doesn't the body have specific stress hormones, levels of which can be permanently raised?

Not sure, but when most ordinary people (i.e., those who don't know the finer details of how their bodies work) refer to 'stress', what they mean is tiredness. Doctors talking about it is another thing.