Psychologists categorize stress into two types: acute and chronic. Acute stress emerges following a particular event or situation. It is generally short term, lasting anywhere from seconds to days. An example is stress experienced the day a supervisor informs an employee she is being let go. Chronic stress, in contrast, arises as a result of multiple co‐occurring stressors. It generally has a long and sometimes indefinite duration. An example may be multiple stressors associated with an institution's broad financial challenges.
David C. Schwebel (Wed,) studied this question.