A client with moderate anxiety is experiencing eustress. Which description best captures eustress?

• A. The client experiences positive coping and confident engagement.
• B. The client becomes overwhelmed and immobilized.
• C. The client expresses a sense of mastery and purposeful engagement.
• D. The client remains anxious and distracted by worry.

Answer: (C)

The main idea being tested is how eustress presents: positive, energizing stress that enhances performance and is tied to a sense of competence and purposeful action. When stress is eustress, the anxiety feels constructive rather than crippling, fueling effort toward a meaningful goal.

This is best described as a sense of mastery and purposeful engagement. The person isn’t just coping or confident in general; they feel capable, in control, and actively engaged in pursuing a task with direction. That combination—feeling capable and aimed at a clear outcome—captures how eustress can motivate peak performance and growth.

In contrast, feeling overwhelmed and immobilized signals distress rather than eustress, and remaining anxious and distracted by worry points to ongoing, unfocused anxiety that hinders functioning. Positive coping and confident engagement share the positive tone, but they don’t necessarily emphasize the concrete experience of mastery and purposeful involvement that characterizes eustress.