Stress Management

Hans Selye first introduced the concept of stress in 1926. In his early work, Selye defined stress as a bodily response to overuse or damage. Modern definitions view stress as a response to internal or external factors that are perceived as threatening. Refinements in this field have led to the use of two terms: Stressor, the stimulus that causes stress, and stress, the reaction or response of the individual to the Stressor.

Stressors tend to fall into two categories: biological and psychosocial. Biological (or biogenic) Stressors have properties that elicit a physiological response. They cause chemical or electrical stimulation in the body that causes the body to react with arousal. Biogenic Stressors bypass cognitive processes and include substances like caffeine, nicotine, and stimulant drugs.

Psychosocial Stressors are real or imaginary events that, because of a person's interpretations, cause the body to respond with the stress response. Richard Lazarus first described the importance of cognition in the stress process with the term cognitive appraisal. Cognitive appraisal is the idea that the interpretation individuals assign to an event determines whether it is stressful or not. If the cognitive appraisal is that the stimulus is a threat, the stress response will be activated. Psychosocial Stressors may be psychological (worries or fears) or social (relationships, racism, or sexism).

Once a stimulus is appraised as a Stressor, a complex set of processes occurs in the body. It was labeled the general adaptation syndrome (GAS) by Selye and consists of a series of three stages. George Everly, Jr. described the GAS as “the missing link” that explains how stress causes physical dysfunction. When facing a Stressor, the body prepares itself for action. Evolutionarily useful, the alarm phase is commonly known asflight-or-fight. In this phase, the sympathetic [Page 887]nervous system is aroused. Stress symptoms like rapid heartbeat, perspiration, increased blood pressure, dilation of pupils, and difficulties swallowing are signs that the body is responding to a Stressor.

If the threat or Stressor continues, the individual enters the resistance phase. During this phase, the body works to reestablish homeostasis and repair any physical damage that occurred during the alarm stage. If the Stressor continues and homeostasis cannot be achieved, the body will eventually enter the exhaustion phase in which physical breakdown occurs. During this phase, the individual is vulnerable to opportunistic disease and damage to target organs in the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and immune systems. The alarm and resistance phases are repeated many times over the life span. In fact, some individuals experience this type of activation and return to homeostasis on an almost daily basis. The damage that occurs with the exhaustion phase is significant and may not be able to be repaired.