Stress

v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

Stress is a condition that is similar to unhappiness in earlier versions. It will cause the dwarf to flash with a downward red arrow, and "Over the long term, Urist McStressed has been under a great deal of stress" will show on the personality trait tab.

Dwarves under stress for long periods of time will develop worse symptoms of stress level: "Urist McReallyStressed has become haggard and drawn due to the tremendous amounts of stresses placed upon him". In the short term, excessive levels of stress will lead to temporary emotional breakdowns - throwing tantrums, slipping into depression, or stumbling around obliviously. In the long term, excessive levels of stress will lead to insanity.

Animals can also be stressed, which seems to happen when an animal has been constrained for a long time.

Stress levels are given as a number, where a negative number is good, and a positive number is bad.

You may want to check on keeping your dwarves unstressed

Stress factors

Stress is affected by the emotions a dwarf experiences upon encountering certain circumstances; these encounters are temporarily shown as thoughts in the dwarf's profile, though the resulting stress can linger long after the thoughts are gone. The strength of the emotions (and the resulting stress values) vary based on the dwarf's personality.

Being out in the sun seems to affect dwarves quite strongly in terms of stress.

Moving past corpses seems to trigger unhappy "horrified" thoughts which are wrongly labelled "seeing XXX die". If you see such a thought, make sure to clean up corpses and place in a (deep) dump.

Emotions and the level of stress or stress relief they cause presumably have numerical values under the hood, but in game their effect can only be determined by color. Note that in many instances the same things cause different emotions. The exact mechanisms of how it's decided what emotions are to follow are as of yet unclear, but there's a general consensus that it depends on both severity of factors and the personality of dwarf in question.

Here is a start of table of emotions and what they can be caused by:

Emotion	Cause
enraptured	Communing with a deity
pleasure	Being next to high quality furniture, acquiring well-crafted items
euphoric	Drinking
enjoyment	Performing
blissful	Dining in a legendary dining room, sleeping in great bedroom
delighted	Watching a performance
content	Being able to rest after injury, eating a fine meal, putting on a well-crafted item, discussing or pondering a topic
satisfied	Receiving food while sick, being successful at work
expectant	Discussing or pondering a topic
interested	Watching a performance
astonished	Being sentenced by dwarven justice and then having punishment reduced
annoyed	Being caught in a rain, being out in the sun
grouchy	Being caught in a rain
irritated	Being out in the sun
bitter	Getting into an argument
lonely	Being away from family, being away from friends
uneasy	Being unable to pray to deity, lack of decent meals
restless	Being unable to practice a craft, being unable to practice a martial art, being unable to learn, being unable to use abstract thinking
bored	Being unable to practice a craft, being unable to practice a martial art, being unable to learn, being unable to use abstract thinking, generally living an unexciting life
shaken	Suffering injury
disgusted	Smelling miasma, being nauseated by the sun
afraid	Experiencing trauma
loathing	Being beaten up in the course of dwarven justice or otherwise