The stress literature also suggests that the types of stressors and the aspects of stress that may be important in determining the risk of getting an illness may be different from those aspects that are determinants of the progression, course, and severity of the illness. That is, the factors that are linked to the onset of disease may be different from those that overwhelm the body’s defenses in coping with illness. The distinction between chronic and acute discrimination may be important for the underlying pathways by which discrimination-induced stress can lead to disease. As with the general literature on stress, acute experiences of discrimination may trigger acute episodes of illness while chronic discrimination may exacerbate existing disease processes (Bhattacharyya and Steptoe 2007). In the absence of coronary disease, for example, severe emotional distress from acute stress can trigger acute cardiovascular responses and events that can lead to cardiovascular dysfunction. On the other hand, chronic stressors can accelerate the atherosclerotic processes and lead to more rapid progression of disease (Brotman et al. 2007). Similarly, mental health research reveals that major stressful
