Stress: Instructions For Use Definition, History Of The Term Stress

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

“Here's the most important thought in this book: if you are a zebra running as hard as you can to save your life, or a lion running as hard as you can to avoid starving to death, your body’s physiological response mechanisms are great for dealing with such short-term physical emergencies. … For the vast majority of animals on this planet, stress is primarily a short-term crisis. After this crisis, they either live on or die. And when we sit around and worry, we turn on the same physiological reactions. But if these reactions become chronic, then they can lead to disaster”*.

If the stressful situation is due to a real reason: an upcoming exam, an interview, a speech in front of an audience, serious negotiations, etc. and is a way to mobilize all the capabilities of the body, then in a state of short-term stress (this is not the case when we cannot sleep for a week before a significant event ), we effectively cope with the tasks before us, directing our actions to solve the problem.

But when we go into a psychological "tailspin" and activate the stress response for no real reason, then we are dealing with "anxiety", "neurosis", "paranoia" or "inappropriate aggression."

Stress research

Stress research has yielded amazing data:

the physiological system of the body is activated not only by physical factors, but simply by thoughts about them

At the beginning of his professional career, in the 1930s, a young specialist in the field of endocrinology G. Selye studied the effect of ovarian extract on the body using experimental rats. He injected rats with the extract somewhat awkwardly: the rats fell from the table, hit, ran away - in general, it would be clear to any observer that they were in a panic.

A few months later, Selye discovered the occurrence of diseases in rats: stomach ulcers, enlargement of the adrenal glands (where stress hormones are produced), changes in the tissues of immune organs. At first glance, the effect of this extract on the body was obvious.

But, for the purity of the experiment, the scientist decided to use a control group: these rats were injected with a salt solution every day. At the same time, Selye did not become more agile and more accurate with rats, and they still rushed and fell from the table during injections. Over time, the rats showed the same painful symptoms as the rats of the first group that received the extract injections.

Reflecting on the results of the experiment, Selye came to the assumption that painful injections were common in the first and second cases and, perhaps, the occurrence of diseases is a reaction to unpleasant experiences of pain.

The scientist decided to diversify the "unpleasant experience". He placed some rats in a cold basement, others under a hot attic roof, and subjected others to constant physical exertion. After some time, the above diseases were found in all three groups of rats.

Thus, Selye discovered the tip of the iceberg of stress-related diseases. Based on the results of his experiment, Selye called the "unpleasant experiences" of rats by the physical term - "stress". This term was coined in the 1920s by physiologist Walter Kennon. Walter Cannon was the first to call the body's response to stress a fight-or-flight response ("fight or flight"). We still use the response system that was developed by our ancestors more than a million years ago.

Selye developed this concept with two ideas.

one. The body reacts in the same way to any effects of stressors - whether it be an increase or decrease in temperature in the environment, whether it is the threat of being eaten or bruised, or thoughts about possible negative outcomes (the latter applies exclusively to humans - animals do not have such a problem: worry about possible troubles) … Those. exposure to stressors by the body is perceived as a threat to physical and mental integrity and "includes" adaptive mechanisms that involve physiological and biochemical changes in the body, which lead to certain external reactions of a person to stress.

2. If the effects of stressors persist for too long, it can lead to physical illness.

And it doesn't matter that some of the previous dangers, for example, the attack of wild animals, have lost their relevance, they have been replaced by others: for example, the danger of losing social status, which can be perceived as a threat to life.

Stress theory

Despite the fact that stress in the life of a modern person is already the norm and the state of stress and constant tension is practically not noticed by us, in science there is still no single point of view of what stress is. There are many different interpretations of the problem of stress and this is not surprising. The very phenomenon of stress is so multifaceted that each of the definitions is able to describe only one of its aspects.

The concept of "stress" is considered as:

- reaction to stimuli (stressors) (G. Selye, J. Godefroy, ON Polyakova);

- Requirements for human adaptive abilities (D. Fontana, D. L. Gibson, J. Greenberg);

- the natural process of interaction between a person and the external environment (RLazarus, S. Folkman, K. Cooper, F. Dave, M. O'Dryyscoll);

- a special functional, psychological, physiological state of the body (M. Fogiel, R. S. Nemov, N. P. Fetiskin, V. V. Suvorova, A. G. Maklakov);

- mental or physical stress, which is the cause of the deterioration of physical and mental health (L. A. Kitaev Smyk, Yu. I. Aleksandrov, A. M. Kolman).

In my Effective Stress Management Course, I see stress as a result of impaired communication. The basis is the facts that demonstrate to us that the state of stress occurs most often when interacting with a real or imagined stressor: with a specific person, audience, environment, information, etc. In the classroom, participants learn how to deal with stress, how to take care of themselves after stress. We become familiar with the three components of stress: "stressors", "unconscious, habitual stress responses" and learn new effective "behavioral responses" to stress. More details about the group program can be found at the link:

Currently, the following areas of research in the field of stress can be highlighted:

• study of the effect of stress on our body and its consequences. (For example, it has now been established that long-term stresses have a more destructive effect on the body and psyche than strong, but short-term ones.

• study of factors influencing coping of stress. (In modern studies of the problem of stress, the study of ways to overcome stress is central);

• study of the influence of social support and social relations on the degree and depth of a person's experience of stressful situations;

• study of the peculiarities of stress manifestation in various spheres and periods of our life (emotional burnout, sex, professional stress, adolescence, exams, pregnancy, divorce);

• study of the influence of microstressors on mental health and emotional state of a person. (For example, it is known that people are rarely aware of the negative impact of everyday stressors, acting on the principle of "a drop wears a stone."And microstressors can amplify experiences in more serious stressful situations.)

• study of the degree of influence of stress depending on temperament and individual history of personality development (anamnesis).

Further in the article, the following questions will be considered in more detail: what changes occur in the body in a state of stress and after stress, how they manifest themselves in human behavior, what are the methods of treatment and prevention of stress, especially the experience of stress in children, adolescents, women, men.

List of used literature:

G. B. Monina, N. V. Rannala training "Resilience resources"

* E. M. Cherepanova « Psychological stress: Help yourself and your child "