Unit -1

Definition of Stress:
❖ Stress is the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and
behavioural responses to events that are appraised as threatening or
challenging. For example, stress is being stopped by a police officer after
accidentally running a red light.

❖ Stress is a negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable

biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioural changes that are
directed either toward altering the stressful event or accommodating to its
effects.
Most people experience some degree of stress on a daily basis, some people feel the
effects of stress more than others because what one person might consider a threat
might be appraised as an opportunity by another.
Types of Stress:
Stress can be bad or good, depending on different and very personal factors: the
source and nature of a stressor, availability of your inner defences, resilience, and
other vital mental health skills that helps to respond to the stressor, and the way it
affects. There are two kinds of stress:
i. Eustress: It was term first coined by Hans Selye in 1936. It results from
positive events that require the body to adapt or change, such as, marriage, a
job promotion, and having a baby.

All are positive events for most people but they all require a great deal of
change in people’s habits, duties, and even lifestyle, thereby creating stress.
Researchers define eustress as the optimal amount of stress that people need to
promote health and well-being.

ii. Distress: It is the negative stress response, often involving negative affect and
physiological reactivity: a type of stress that results from being overwhelmed
by demands, losses, or perceived threats.

Distress triggers physiological changes that can pose serious health risks,
especially if combined with maladaptive ways of coping. It is the result of any
of types of stressors exceeding one’s ability to manage it.
Differentiating some Psychological Concepts with Stress:
➢ Pressure: It is the psychological experience produced by urgent demands or
expectations for a person s behaviour that come from an outside source. It
occurs when people feel that they must work harder, faster, or do more, as in
meeting a deadline or studying for final exams. Pressure can have a negative
impact on a person s ability to be creative.

➢ Frustration: It is the psychological experience produced by the blocking of a

desired goal or fulfilment of a perceived need. Frustration can be external, such
as when a car breaks down, a desired job offer doesn’t come, or a possession is
stolen. Internal frustrations, also known as personal frustrations, occur when
the goal or need cannot be attained because of internal or personal
characteristics. For example, someone who wants to be an astronaut might find
that severe motion sickness prevents him or her from such a goal.

➢ Conflict: It occurs when a person has to choose between two or more than
two mutually compatible or incompatible goals, needs, or external demands.
There are several forms of conflict, such as approach - approach conflict,
avoidance-avoidance conflict, etc. For example, people who are fearful of
dental procedures might face the conflict of suffering the pain of a toothache or
going to the dentist.

➢ Tension: It is a state of psychological strain joined by discomfort, uneasiness

and result due to dissonance, uncertainty, and instability. Tension can be an
individual phenomenon, such as when a person is so overwhelmed at work that
he/she feels tension. It originated
from Latin verb tender,
which refer to “to stretch”.
 GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME:

Hans Selye, a pioneering stress researcher, formulated the General Adaptation

Syndrome in 1956. He argued that when a person confronts a stressor, it
mobilizes itself for action. The response itself is nonspecific with respect to the
stressor; that is, regardless of the cause of the threat, the person will respond
with the same physiological pattern of reactions.

He proposed that people go through three phases in response to stress.

1) Alarm Stage: In the first phase, which comprises two sub stages:
the shock phase, marked by a decrease in body temperature, blood
pressure, and muscle tone and loss of fluid from body tissues; and
the counter shock phase, during which the sympathetic nervous system
is activated, the adrenal glands release hormones that increase heart rate,
blood pressure, and the supply of blood sugar, resulting in a burst of
energy, triggering a defensive reaction, such as the fight-or-flight
response.

2) Resistance stage (or adaptation stage): It follows continued exposure

to a stressor, stress responses rise above normal and the person makes
efforts to cope with the threat through stabilization at the increased
physiological levels. However, if stress continues high blood pressure
can develop into hypertension, with risk of cardiovascular disturbance
and other health issues.

3) Exhaustion stage: It is characterized by breakdown of acquired

adaptations from long-term exposure to stressful situation, and at this
point, resistance will fall below normal which is evidenced by sleep
disturbances, vulnerability to anxiety attacks, depressed mood, and
crying spells or the death of the organism if outside help is unavailable
(Stein-Behrens et al., 1994).
Alarm and resistance are stages that people experience many times throughout life,
allowing people to adapt to life s demands (Selye, 1976).

DEPRESSION:
Depression is more serious and long-lasting than stress, and requires a different kind
of help. Both can affect you in similar ways, but there are key differences. Symptoms
of depression can be much more intense. They last at least three weeks. Depression
causes powerful mood changes, such as painful sadness and despair, feeling of
exhaustion and being unable to act.

Treatment for Depression:

Depression and other mental health conditions are nothing to be ashamed of.
Depression is not a sign of weakness, and seeking help is a sign of strength. Telling
someone you are struggling is the first step toward feeling better.
1. Medication: Prescription medicine called antidepressants can help change the
brain chemistry that causes depression. There are several different types of
antidepressants, and it may take time to figure out the one that’s best suited.
Some antidepressants have side effects, which often improve with time.

2. Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy (talk therapy) involves talking with a mental

health professional. Your therapist helps you identify and change unhealthy
emotions, thoughts and behaviours. There are many types of psychotherapy
— cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or interpersonal therapy are the most
common.

3. Brain stimulation therapy: Brain stimulation therapy can help people who
have severe depression or depression with psychosis. Types of brain
stimulation therapy include electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial
magnetic stimulation (TMS) and Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS).

4. Complementary Therapy: It involves treatments received along with

traditional Western medicine. People with mild depression or ongoing
symptoms can improve their well-being with therapies such as acupuncture,
massage, hypnosis and biofeedback.

With proper diagnosis and treatment, the vast majority of people with depression live
healthy, fulfilling lives. However, depression can return after getting treatment,
though, so it’s important to seek medical help as soon as symptoms begin again.
It is difficult to prevent depression, but we can reduce the risk by:
a) Maintaining a healthy sleep routine.
b) Managing stress with healthy coping mechanisms.
c) Practicing regular self-care activities such as exercise, meditation and yoga.

Dimensions of Stress:
Cognitive dimension of Stress: Lazarus’s Cognitive Appraisal Approach
Richard Lazarus developed a cognitive view of stress called the cognitive-mediational
theory of emotions, in which the way people think about and appraise a stressor is a
major factor in how stressful that particular stressor becomes (Lazarus, 1991, 1999;
Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
According to Lazarus, there is a two-step process in assessing a stressor s degree of
threat or harm and how one should react to that stressor.
I. Primary Appraisal: It involves estimating the severity of the stressor and
classifying it as a threat (something that could be harmful in the future), a
challenge (something to be met and defeated), or a harm or loss that has
already occurred. For example, a student who has not read the text or taken
good notes will certainly appraise an upcoming exam as threatening.

II. Secondary Appraisal: It involves estimating the resources available to the

person for coping with the stressor. Resources might include social support,
money, time, energy, ability, or any number of potential resources, depending
on the threat. If resources are perceived as adequate or abundant, the degree of
stress will be considerably less than if resources are lacking.

Stress, then, is determined by person-environment fit (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984;

Lazarus & Launier, 1978). It results from the process of appraising events (as harmful,
threatening, or challenging), of assessing potential resources, and of responding to the
events.

Physiological Dimension of Stress:

Stress engages psychological distress and leads to changes in the body that may
have short- and longterm consequences for health.
Two interrelated systems are heavily involved in the stress response. They are
the sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM) system and the hypothalamic-
pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis.

➢ Sympathetic Activation: When events are perceived as harmful or

threatening, they are identified as such by the cerebral cortex in the brain,
which, in turn, sets off a chain of reactions mediated by these appraisals.
Information from the cortex is transmitted to the hypothalamus, which
initiates one of the earliest responses to stress—namely, sympathetic
nervous system arousal.
Sympathetic arousal stimulates the medulla of the adrenal glands, which,
in turn, secrete the catecholamines: epinephrine (EP) and norepinephrine
(NE). These effects result in the changes experienced in response to
stress: increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, increased sweating,
and constriction of peripheral blood vessels, among other changes. The
catecholamines also modulate the immune system.

➢ HPA Activation: The hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is also

activated in response to stress. The hypothalamus releases corticotrophin
releasing hormone (CRH), which stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete
adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which, in turn, stimulates the
adrenal cortex to release glucocorticoids. Of these, cortisol is especially
significant. It acts to conserve stores of carbohydrates and helps reduce
inflammation in the case of an injury. It also helps the body return to its
 steady state following stress.
Repeated activation of the HPA axis in response to chronic or recurring
stress can ultimately compromise its functioning. Daily cortisol patterns may
be altered.